Flashcards
Stem cells
Cards in this deck (22)
- 1Define a stem cell?- An undifferentiated cell of a multicellular organism which is capable of giving rise to indefinitely more cells of the same type, and from which certain other kinds of cell arise by differentiation
- Exist in both embryos and adults just w/diff potency - 2Define totipotent stem cells?- Totipotent stem cells have the highest differentiation potential – they can differentiate into all cells of both embryonic and extra-embryonic tissues
- The zygote is totipotent - 3Define pluripotent stem cells?- Pluripotent stem cells can differentiate into all embryonic tissues (somatic cells and the germ line)
- The inner cell mass is pluripotent - 4Define multipotent stem cells?Multipotent stem cells can differentiate into cells of specific cell lineages
- HSC, intestinal stem cell, neural stem cell, etc - 5Define unipotent stem cells?- Unipotent stem cells give rise to one type of differentiated progeny
- Muscle stem cells, spermatogonial stem cells, etc - 6Give a rough outline of HSC -> terminally differentiated cell?
- 7Give a rough outline of intestinal cells -> terminal differentiation?
- 8Give a rough outline of neural stem cell -> terminal differentiation?
- 9Give a rough outline of muscle stem cell -> terminal differentiation?
- 10Give a rough outline of primordial germ cell -> terminal differentiation?
- 11What are adult stem cells function?- Maintaining adult tissues in homeostasis and repair, this means:
• Tissue (adult) stem cells maintain and repair tissues of the body
• In some tissues, stem cells continually renew to replenish the tissue
• In some tissues, stem cells only divide when repair is needed - 12What are transit amplifying cells (TACs) ?- Pluripotent cells derived from stem cells that divide multiple times before undergoing terminal differentiation into the functional cells of the tissue
- Give large population ready to differentiate into required cells from only one precursor - 13Can stem cells be cultured in vitro and why is this important?- Yes!
- Important for stem cell research! - 14What is the only stem cell based therapy of the eye that has been proven to work in clinical trials ?- Repairing the cornea
- The corneal limbus = border btwn the cornea and the sclera (the white of the eye) ->It contains stem cells in its palisades of Vogt that can be used to culture corneal stem cells which can then be transplanted onto disease cornea -> therapeutic effect
- 15What are embryonic stem cells (ESCs) ?- Pluripotent stem cells derived from the inner cell mass (ICM) of a blastocyst, an early-stage pre-implantation embryo
- 16Why are ESCs important?- Due to their plasticity and potentially unlimited capacity for self-renewal, embryonic stem cell therapies have been proposed for regenerative medicine and tissue replacement after injury or disease -> Pluripotent stem cells have shown promise in treating a number of varying conditions, including but not limited to:
- spinal cord injuries
- Age related macular degeneration
- Diabetes
Neurodegenerative disorders (such as Parkinson's disease)
- AIDS
- In addition to their potential in regenerative medicine, embryonic stem cells provide a possible alternative source of tissue/organs which serves as a possible solution to the donor shortage dilemma
- Can be used for research on early human development
- Research on certain genetic disease
- In vitro toxicology testing - 17What is a potential concern of using ESCs and how is this concern mitigated?- Major concern w/possible transplantation of ESC into patients as therapies is their ability to form tumours incl. teratoma
- Main strategy to enhance the safety of ESC for potential clinical use is to differentiate the ESC into specific cell types (e.g. neurons, muscle, liver cells) that have reduced or eliminated ability to cause tumours
- Following differentiation, the cells are also subjected to sorting by flow cytometry for further purification - 18What are bioreactors and why are they used in stem cell culturing?- Definition: Any manufactured device or system that supports a biologically active environment
- Used to maintain well-controlled microenvironments to regulate cell growth, differentiation, and tissue development -> provide controlled delivery of nutrients and biomimetic stimuli in order to influence cell growth, differentiation, and tissue formation
- Essential for providing standardized, reproducible cell-based products for regenerative medicine applications or to establish physiologically relevant in vitro models for testing of pharmacologic agents
- - 19What are induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) ?- A type of pluripotent stem cell that can be generated directly from a somatic cell by the overexpression of pluripotency transcription factors which reprogram
the somatic nucleus
- Known as 'induced' pluripotency
- Reqs. introduction of four specific genes (named Myc, Oct3/4, Sox2 and Klf4), collectively known as Yamanaka factors, which encode transcription factors which can convert somatic cells into pluripotent stem cells - 20What is an organoid?- 3D cell cultures that can
recapitulate key features of an organ
- A miniaturized and simplified version of an organ produced in vitro in 3D that shows realistic micro-anatomy
- They are derived from one or a few cells from a tissue, ESCs or iPSCs, which can self-organize in three-dimensional culture owing to their self-renewal and differentiation capacities - 21What are the uses for stem cells and organoids?- Cell therapy applications
- Disease modelling
- Drug development and discovery
- Personalised medicine
- Toxicology testing - 22How can stem cells/organoids be used in disease modelling?- Can take patient cells -> make into stem cells -> differentiate them into organoids:
- Visualise what is happening to diseased cells
- Trial therapies/drugs
- Map course of disease?
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- Undergrad Essentials of Embryology Flashcards on Stem cells, created by Liberty Grisman-Hughes on 05/04/2022.
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- Liberty Grisman-Hughes
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