Stem Cells - Part 2 => Continue Gaping into a Wonderful Invention

Lets see what are the different types of Stem Cells and how they help us in fighting with diseases.

Types of Stem cells:-

1. Embryonic stem cells - isolated from the inner cell mass of human embryos.

Ø In the 3- to 5-day-old embryo, the inner cells give rise to the entire body of the organism, including all of the many specialized cell types and organs such as the heart, lung, skin and other tissues.

2. Adult stem cells - found in non-embryonic adult tissues.

Ø In adult organisms, stem cells act as a repair system for the body, replenishing specialized cells, such as bone marrow, muscle, and brain, to replace cells that are lost through normal wear and tear, injury, or disease. In other organs, however, such as the pancreas and the heart, stem cells only divide under special conditions.

Applicable Treatments:-

Stem cells are important for living organisms for many reasons. The well established success of Stem Cells point out to the Bone Marrow transplantation that are used to treat Leukemia. Just to list, few other promising and emerging potentials of stem cells:

Ø Stroke

Ø Alzheimer’s Disease

Ø Parkinson’s Disease

Ø Traumatic Brain Injury

Ø Learning Defects

Ø Missing Teeth

Ø Wound Healing

Ø Baldness

Ø Blindness

Ø Deafness

Ø Cancers

Ø Multiple Sclerosis

Ø Muscle damage

Ø Myocardial Infarction

Ø Diabetes

Ø Osteoarthritis

However, much work remains to be done in the laboratory and still scientists wonder.. why can embryonic stem cells proliferate for a year or more in the laboratory without differentiating, but most non-embryonic stem cells cannot.. what are the factors in living organisms that normally regulate stem cell proliferation and self-renewal. Discovering the answers to these questions may make it possible to understand how cell proliferation is regulated during normal embryonic development or during the abnormal cell division that leads to cancer.