What are Stem Cells?
Here are certain types of stem cells which will help you elaborate the difference between various types of stem cells.
1. Pluripotent Stem Cells (PS cells) These possess the capacity to divide for long periods and retain their ability to make all cell types within the organism. The best known type of pluripotent stem cell is the one present in embryos that helps babies grow within the womb. These cells form at the blastocyst stage of development. A blastocyst is a hollow ball of cells that is smaller than a pinhead. The embryonic stem cells lie within this ball of cells.
2. Embryonic/Fetal stem cells
These are obtained from tissues of a developing human foetus. These cells have some characteristics of the tissues they are taken from. For example, those taken from foetal muscles can make only muscle cells. These are also called progenitor cells. This is one of the crucial types of stem cells in the research on stem cells, as they are said to be the most curable cells for a lot of diseases.
3. Adult stem cells
These are obtained from some tissues of the adult body. The most commonly used example is the bone marrow. Bone marrow is a rich source of stem cells that can be used to treat some blood diseases and cancers. These types of stem cells have proven to be the least controversial ones in case of their uses to cure a certain diseases.
Stem cell cultures
Stem cells are either extracted from adult tissue or from a dividing zygote in a culture dish. Once extracted, scientists place the cells in a controlled culture that prohibits them from further specializing or differentiating but usually allows them to divide and replicate. The process of growing large numbers of embryonic stem cells has been easier than growing large numbers of adult stem cells, but progress is being made for both cell types.
Stem cell lines
Once stem cells have been allowed to divide and propagate in a controlled culture, the collection of healthy, dividing, and undifferentiated cells is called a stem cell line. These stem cell lines are subsequently managed and shared among researchers. Once under control, the stem cells can be stimulated to specialize as directed by a researcher - a process known as directed differentiation. Embryonic stem cells are able to differentiate into more cell types than adult stem cells.
Potency
Stem cells are categorized by their potential to differentiate into other types of cells. Embryonic stem cells are the most potent since they must become every type of cell in the body. So now we know what are stem cells? And how they have the most potential to be a part of scientific researches and can serve as the best option to fight a lot of diseases in the future, our study on stem cells has been the most important one in today’s era.
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