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Stem Cells, Benefits, Therapy.

by | Jul 25, 2022 | Info | 0 comments

Stem Cells Overview

Stem cells are special human cells that are able to develop into many different cell types. This can range from muscle cells to brain cells. In some cases, they can also fix damaged tissues. Researchers believe that stem cell-based therapies may one day be used to treat serious illnesses such as paralysis and Alzheimer disease.

Researchers believe that stem cell-based therapies may one day be used to treat serious illnesses such as paralysis and Alzheimer disease. Stem cells offer great promise for new medical treatments.

Stem cells are the body’s raw materials, cells from which all other cells with specialized functions are generated. Under the right conditions in the body or a laboratory, stem cells divide to form more cells called daughter cells.

These daughter cells become either new stem cells or specialized cells with a more specific function, such as blood cells, brain cells, heart muscle cells or bone cells. No other cell in the body other than stems cells has the natural ability to generate new cell types.

Cells in the body have specific purposes, but stem cells are cells that do not yet have a specific role and can become almost any cell that is required.

Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that can turn into specific cells, as the body needs them.

Scientists and doctors are interested in stem cells as they help to explain how some functions of the body work, and how they sometimes go wrong.

Stem cells also show promise for treating some diseases that currently have no cure.

Types of Stem Cells

Stem cells originate from two main sources: adult body tissues and embryos. Researchers are also working on ways to develop stem cells from other cells, using genetic “reprogramming” techniques.

Stem cells are divided into the following two main forms:

  • Adult Stem Cells

  • Embryonic Stem Cells


Adult Stem Cells: There are 2 types of adult stem cells. One type comes from fully developed tissues such as the brain, skin, and bone marrow. There are only small numbers of stem cells in these tissues. They are more likely to generate only certain types of cells. For example, a stem cell that comes from the liver will only make more liver cells.

A person’s body contains stem cells throughout their life. The body can use these stem cells whenever it needs them. Also called tissue-specific or somatic stem cells, adult stem cells exist throughout the body from the time an embryo develops.

These cells are in a non-specific state, but they are more specialized than embryonic stem cells. They remain in this state until the body needs them for a specific purpose, say, as skin or muscle cells.

Day-to-day living means the body is constantly renewing its tissues. In some parts of the body, such as the gut and bone marrow, stem cells regularly divide to produce new body tissues for maintenance and repair.

Stem cells are present inside different types of tissue. Scientists have found stem cells in tissues, including:

  • Bone marrow
  • The brain
  • Blood and blood vessels
  • The liver
  • Skeletal muscles
  • Skin

However, stem cells can be difficult to find. They can stay non-dividing and non-specific for years until the body summons them to repair or grow new tissue.

Adult stem cells can divide or self-renew indefinitely. This means they can generate various cell types from the originating organ or even regenerate the original organ, entirely.

This division and regeneration are how a skin wound heals, or how an organ such as the liver, for example, can repair itself after damage.

In the past, scientists believed adult stem cells could only differentiate based on their tissue of origin. However, some evidence now suggests that they can differentiate to become other cell types, as well.

These type of stem cells are induced pluripotent stem cells that have been changed in a lab to be more like embryonic stem cells. Scientists first reported that human stem cells could be changed in this way in 2006. Induced pluripotent stem cells don’t seem to be different from embryonic stem cells, but scientists have not yet found one that can develop every kind of cell and tissue.

Embryonic Stem Cells: The embryonic stem cells used in research today come from unused embryos. These result from an in vitro fertilization procedure. They are donated to science. These embryonic stem cells are pluripotent. This means that they can turn into more than one type of cell.

From the very earliest stage of pregnancy, after the sperm fertilizes the egg, an embryo develops. Around 3 to 5 days after a sperm fertilizes an egg, the embryo takes the form of a blastocyst or ball of cells.

The blastocyst contains stem cells and will later implant in the womb. Embryonic stem cells come from a blastocyst that is 4 to 5 days old.

When scientists take stem cells from embryos, these are usually extra embryos that result from in vitro fertilization (IVF). In IVF clinics, the doctors fertilize several eggs in a test tube, to ensure that at least one survives. They will then implant a limited number of eggs to start a pregnancy.

When a sperm fertilizes an egg, these cells combine to form a single cell called a zygote. This single-celled zygote then starts to divide, forming 2, 4, 8, 16 cells, and so on. At this stage it is called an embryo.

Soon, and before the embryo implants in the uterus, this mass of around 150 to 200 cells is the blastocyst. The blastocyst consists of two parts:

  • An outer cell mass that becomes part of the placenta
  • The inner cell mass that will develop into the human body

It is the inner cell mass where embryonic stem cells are found. These are known as totipotent cells. The term totipotent refer to the fact that they have total potential to develop into any cell in the body.

With the right stimulation, the cells can become blood cells, skin cells, and all the other cell types that a body needs.

In early pregnancy, the blastocyst stage continues for about 5 days before the embryo implants in the uterus, or womb. At this stage, stem cells begin to differentiate. Embryonic stem cells can differentiate into more cell types than adult stem cells.

Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs)

MSCs come from the connective tissue or stroma that surrounds the body’s organs and other tissues.

Researchers have used MSCs to create new human body tissues, such as bone, cartilage, and fat cells. They may one day play a role in solving a wide range of health problems we face as humans.

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPS)

Scientists create these types of cells in a lab, using skin cells and other tissue-specific cells. These cells behave in a similar way to embryonic stem cells, so they could be useful for developing a range of therapies. However, more research and development is necessary for these to be effective.

To grow stem cells, scientists first extract samples from adult tissue or an embryo. They then place these cells in a controlled culture where they will divide and reproduce but not specialize further. Stem cells that are dividing and reproducing in a controlled culture are called a stem-cell line.

Researchers manage and share stem-cell lines for different purposes. They can stimulate the stem cells to specialize in a particular way. This process is known as directed differentiation.

Until now, it has been easier to grow large numbers of embryonic stem cells than adult stem cells. However, scientists are making progress with both cell types.

Classification of Stem Cells

Researchers categorize stem cells, according to their potential to differentiate into other types of cells.

Embryonic stem cells are the most potent, as their job is to become every type of cell in the body.

The full classification includes the following:

Totipotent: These stem cells can differentiate into all possible cell types. The first few cells that appear as the zygote starts to divide are totipotent.

Pluripotent: These cells can turn into almost any cell. Cells from the early embryo are pluripotent.

Multipotent: These cells can differentiate into a closely related family of cells. Adult hematopoietic stem cells, for example, can become red and white blood cells or platelets.

Oligopotent: These can differentiate into a few different cell types. Adult lymphoid or myeloid stem cells can do this.

Unipotent: These can only produce cells of one kind, which is their own type. However, they are still stem cells because they can renew themselves. Examples include adult muscle stem cells.

Embryonic stem cells are considered pluripotent instead of totipotent because they cannot become part of the extra-embryonic membranes or the placenta.

Uses of Stem Cells

Scientists see many possible uses for stem cells. Stem cells are important for several reasons, with the right stimulation, many stem cells can take on the role of any type of cell, and they can regenerate damaged tissue, under the right conditions.

This potential could save lives or repair wounds and tissue damage in people after an illness or injury.

Tissue regeneration

Tissue regeneration is probably the most important use of stem cells.

Until now, a patient who needed a new kidney, for example, had to wait for a donor and then undergo a transplant. There is a shortage of donor organs but, by instructing stem cells to differentiate in a certain way, scientists could use them to grow a specific tissue type or organ.

For example, doctors have already used stem cells from just beneath the skin’s surface to develop new skin tissue. They can then repair a severe burn or another injury by grafting this tissue onto the damaged skin, and new skin will grow back.

Cardiovascular Disease Treatment

In 2013, a team of researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MHG) reported in PNAS Early Edition that they had created blood vessels in laboratory mice, using human stem cells.

Within 2 weeks of implanting the stem cells, networks of blood-perfused vessels had formed. The quality of these new blood vessels was as good as the nearby natural ones.

The authors hoped that this type of technique could eventually help to treat people with cardiovascular and vascular diseases.

Brain Disease Treatment

Doctors may one day be able to use replacement cells and tissues to treat brain diseases, such as Parkison’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease.

In Parkison’s, for example, damage to brain cells leads to uncontrolled muscle movements. Scientists could use stem cells to replenish the damaged brain tissue. This could bring back the specialized brain cells that stop the uncontrolled muscle movements.

Researchers have already tried differentiating embryonic stem cells into these types of cells, so treatments are promising.

Cell Deficiency Therapy

Researchers anticipate that one day they will be able to develop healthy heart cells in a laboratory that they can transplant into people with heart disease.

These new cells could repair heart damage by repopulating the heart with healthy tissue.

Similarly, people with type I diabetes could receive pancreatic cells to replace the insulin-producing cells that their own immune systems have lost or destroyed.

The only current therapy is a pancreatic transplant, and very few pancreases are available for transplant.

Blood Disease treatments

Doctors now routinely use adult hematopoietic stem cells to treat diseases, such as leukemia, sickle cell anemia, and other immunodeficiency problems.

Hematopoietic stem cells occur in blood and bone marrow and can produce all blood cell types, including red blood cells that carry oxygen and white blood cells that fight disease.


Stem Cell Therapy (Regenerative Medicine)

Stem cell therapy is also known as regenerative medicine. It promotes the repair response of diseased, dysfunctional or injured tissue using stem cells or their derivatives. It is the new era in organ transplantation and uses cells instead of donor organs, which are limited in supply.

Scientists grow stem cells in a lab. These stem cells are manipulated to specialize into specific types of cells, such as heart muscle cells, blood cells or nerve cells.

The specialized cells can then be implanted into the patient. For example, if the patient has heart disease, the cells could be injected into the heart muscle. The healthy transplanted heart muscle cells could then contribute to repairing the injured heart muscle.

In stem cell transplants, stem cells replace cells damaged by chemotherapy or disease or serve as a way for the donor’s immune system to fight some types of cancer and blood-related diseases, such as leukemia, lymphomas, neuroblastoma and multiple myeloma . These transplants use adult stem cells or umbilical cord blood.

Scientists have already shown that adult bone marrow cells guided to become heart-like cells can repair heart tissue in patients, and additional research is ongoing to find more cures.


Potential Problems Using Embryonic Stem Cells

Scientist’s must be certain that the stem cells will differentiate into the specific cell types desired for them to be useful. They have discovered ways to direct stem cells to become specific types of cells, such as directing embryonic stem cells to become heart cells. Further research is ongoing in this area for new developments.

Embryonic stem cells can also grow irregularly or specialize in different cell types spontaneously. Researchers are studying how to control the growth and differentiation of embryonic stem cells.

Embryonic stem cells might also trigger an immune response in which the recipient’s body attacks the stem cells as foreign invaders, or the stem cells might simply fail to function as expected, with unknown consequences. Scientists continue their research how to avoid these possible complications.

Therapeutic Cloning Benefits

Therapeutic cloning, also known as somatic cell nuclear transfer, is a technique to create versatile stem cells independent of fertilized eggs. In this technique, the nucleus is removed from an unfertilized egg. This nucleus contains the genetic material. The nucleus is also removed from the cell of a donor.

This donor nucleus is then injected into the egg, replacing the nucleus that was removed, in a process called nuclear transfer. The egg is allowed to divide and soon forms a blastocyst. This process creates a line of stem cells that is genetically identical to the donor’s cells, in essence, a clone.

Some researchers believe that stem cells derived from therapeutic cloning may offer benefits over those from fertilized eggs because cloned cells are less likely to be rejected once transplanted back into the donor and may allow researchers to see exactly how a disease develops.

Controversy About Using Stem Cells

There has been some controversy about stem cell research. This mainly relates to work on embryonic stem cells.

Embryonic stem cells are obtained from early-stage embryos, a group of cells that forms when eggs are fertilized with sperm at an in vitro fertilization clinic. Because human embryonic stem cells are extracted from human embryos, several questions and issues have been raised about the ethics of embryonic stem cell research.

The National Institutes of Health created guidelines for human stem cell research in 2009. The guidelines define embryonic stem cells and how they may be used in research and include recommendations for the donation of embryonic stem cells.

Also, the guidelines state that embryonic stem cells from embryos created by in vitro fertilization can be used only when the embryo is no longer needed.

Use of Embryos for Stem Cells

The argument against using embryonic stem cells is that it destroys a human blastocyst, and the fertilized egg cannot develop into a person. Nowadays, researchers are looking for ways to create or use stem cells that do not involve embryos.

Mixing Humans and Animals

Stem cell research often involves inserting human cells into animals, such as mice or rats. Some people argue that this could create an organism that is part human.

In some countries, it is illegal to produce embryonic stem cell lines. In the United States, scientists can create or work with embryonic stem cell lines, but it is illegal to use federal funds to research stem cell lines that were created after August 2001.

Stem Cell Therapy and FDA Regulation

Some people are already offering “stem-cells therapies” for a range of purposes, such as anti-aging treatments.

However, most of these uses do not have approval from the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration). Some of them may be illegal, and some can be dangerous.

Anyone who is considering stem-cell treatment should check with the provider or with the FDA that the product has approval, and that it was made in a way that meets with FDA standards for safety and effectiveness.

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