Stem Cell Research

Stem Cell Research

Can you imagine a world where lost limb could be replaced, chronic diseases cured, brain damage reversed, spinal cord injuries healed, terminal illnesses cured all as a result of the use of a specific type of cell, naturally found in the human body? This indeed is very possible and in the future as science progresses these new developments rest in the fate of the studies of stem cells. With stem cells many medical puzzles and problems will be solved but before they can, the few but large problems of transplants and ethical issues will have to be resolved.

Stem cells are unspecialized cells that are able to adapt and form into specific specialized cells such as blood cells, nerve cells, brain cells and also have the unique ability to divide for an indefinite period of time as long as the organism remains alive. With these abilities they can serve as a way to revive and replenish other cells in the body from many different tissues and organs. There are three main classes of stem cells including totipotent, multipotent, and pluripotent. Totipotents have a total potential to give rise to any kind of cell in the body and come from fertilized eggs. Multipotents can form into only a small number of cells in the body are found in adult animals organs usually. Pluripotents can form into cells excluding those used to form a fetus and are derived from human embryos that are only a few days old.

The use of stem cells for medical purposes is now looking to be a possibility in the future and will give rise to many benefits. If the potential problems of using stem cells are solved then they might be able to be used in curing many diseases, replacing organs, and replenishing cells in the body that normally don’t replicate. Scientist are now looking to cure Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, spinal cord injury, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Also, they might be used to grow new organs able to be used in transplants and fixing damaged cells in the body faster. Overall, with these many possibilities stem cells could give way to a whole new generation of medicinal treatments.

Though many positive sides of stem cell research exist, there are too a few downsides and problems. One of them being that our bodies might reject new stem cells being implanted, so scientist still must find a way around this. There are no problems surrounding the method of researching them but the largest problem is a question of ethics. Is it okay