Stem Cells

Stem Cells

1. can be divided by their potency

2. totipotent

   • cells that can differentiate into any type of cell, including another embryo
   • harvested from the embryo after a few hours from fertilization

3. pluripotent

   • can create any cell in the body except a new embryo
   • harvested from the inner cell mass of the blastocyst (at 5 days from fertilization)

4. multipotent

   • can only turn into certain types of cells closely related to each other
     • ex: hemotapoietic
       • red blood cells
       • white blood cells
       • platelets
   • harvested from adult tissue or cord blood tissue
     • not all tissues have stem cells available
       • ex: pancreas or liver do not have them

5. unipotent

   • can only turn into one type of cell
   • harvested from adult tissues
   • the difference between a stem cell and a normal cell is that stem cells can self renew, while normal cells cannot

6. we can also divide cells by where they are harvested

   • embryonic
     • taken from the embryo
       • both:
         • totipotent
           • taken a few hours fertilization
         • pluripotent
           • taken from blastocyst
   • cord blood
     • taken from umbilical cord of newborn
     • multipotent
     • becoming more common to save these cells
       • they can be used to cure "baby" later in life
         • ex. leukemia
   • adult
     • have already been differentiated
     • taken from adult tissue
       • multipotent
       • unipotent
     • stem cells that can be taken from adult tissue are:
       • skin epidermis
         • skin cells
       • bone marrow
         • blood cells
         • multipotent
       • brain
         • neuron
         • multipotent
       • hair follicle
         • hair cells
       • intestine
         • intestinal cells
       • skeletal muscle
         • muscle fibers

7. stem cells can be used for many things:

   • 1) Clone
     • therapeutic use
   • 2) Regrow/repair tissue
     • therapeutic use
       • area of science in rapid development
         • invivo
           • on living organism
         • invitro
           • in a test tube
     • alzheimer
     • Parkinson
     • Paralyzed people
     • Heart attacks
     • Burn victims
   • 3) Grow organs for transplant
     • therapeutic use
     • transplants
   • 4) Drug testing/research
     • more drugs
     • quicker time
     • personalized medicine
   • 5) Embryology