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ASC BASICS

All stem cells share three characteristics:

They are also multipotent. 

  • This means that they can differentiate into many different types of cells in the body, but not every type of cell possible.

  • If a cell can develop into every type of cell, it is pluripotent. As you will read, there are other types of stem cells that have this characteristic.

 

Below is a diagram showing how differentiation of multipotent adult stem cells work. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image credit: http://www.innovationsstemcellcenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/stem-cell-potential.jpg

 

Where are adult stem cells found?

  • They are found in lots of tissues and organs in the body in a particular stem cell niche.

  • These locations are special environments near a blood vessel to maintain the multipotency and population of adult stem cells.

 

How do adult stem cells regenerate/maintain tissues? 

  • When you get injured, adult stem cells keep your somatic cells (or just all the cells in your body except sperm and egg cells) at the level they are supposed to be at, and they help with wound healing. 

  • This is to help maintain homeostasis (a fancy word for making sure the body remains at a stable condition) when new cells replace old ones that don't work anymore. 

  •  Stem cells remain inactive until signals are received and the microenvironment changes to tell the cells to start differentiating. 

 

There are other types of stem cells besides adult stem cells!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Blastocyst = 5 day old embryo. Embryonic stem cells are isolated from inner cell mass (the cells in the embryo that eventually develop into a fetus) of the blastocyst.

*Teratoma = tumor with all three germ layers in it. Germ layers (endoderm, mesoderm, and ectoderm) are three main layers of the body (inside, middle, outside). Each cell in the body belongs to one of these layers. Teratoma forms as a result of pluripotent stem cell since it can differentiate into every type of cell.

 

Why are we looking specifically at adult stem cells?

  • Although the other types of stem cells are also areas of intense research, we are focusing on adult stem cells, since that is the currently the most clinically relevant application of stem cells.

 

 

 

 

 

Adult Stem Cells

PROS:

  • Mutipotent

  • No ethical issues with using them 

  • Can be use for patient-specific therapies, no immune response (because it's the own patient's cells)

  • No potential for tumor formation

CONS:

  • Hard to locate

  • Amount of self-renewal limited

PROS:

  • Pluripotent

  • Can self-renew and maintain cell lines longer than adult stem cells

  • Easy to isolate from blastocysts*

CONS:

  • Lots of ethical controversy

  • potential for teratoma formation*

  • immune response if implanted into patients

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

PROS:

  • Easily created by reprogamming a normal somatic cell

  • Pluripotent

  • Can self-rewnew and maintain cell lines longer

  • No ethical issues

  • Patient-specific

CONS:

  • potential for teratoma formation*

  • immune response if implanted into patients

Embryonic Stem Cells

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