Embryonic and Adult Stem Cells

Stem cells relate to the person health of an individual. Stem cells have the remarkable ability to develop into many different cell types in the body. Able to be a repair system for the body, they can divide without limit to replenish other cells as long as the person alive and able to provide nutrients to the cells. When a stem cell divides, each new cell has the potential to either remain a stem cell or become another type of cell, such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell, or a brain cell.

Stem cells have two important characteristics that distinguishes them from other types of cells. First, they are cells, with no specific function, that renew themselves with cell division. The second is that under certain conditions, they can be “induced” to become cells, such as the beating cells of the heart muscle or the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas.

Scientists primarily work with two kinds of stem cells from animals and humans: blembryonic stem cells and adult stem cells. Scientists discovered ways to obtain stem cells from experiments with mouse embryos, more than 20 years ago! (It would seem knowledge of stem cells would be much farther along by now) Many years of detailed study of the biology of mouse stem cells led to the discovery, in 1998, of how to isolate stem cells from human embryos and grow the cells in the laboratory. The embryos used in these studies were created for infertility purposes with “in vitro fertilization”.

Stem cells are important for living organisms for many reasons. During the first stages of a developing embryo, stem cells organize themselves into a certain order which will give rise to the multiple specialized cell types that make up the heart, lung, skin, and other tissues. In some adult tissues, such as bone marrow, muscle, and brain, adult stem cells are found. These stem cells are used to generate replacements for cells that are lost through normal wear and tear, injury, or disease.

The benefits of stem cells can be great. They can be used to cure many debilitating diseases. In a fairly recent study on the uses of stem cells to regenerate organs, a group of scientists surgically removed the spine of a mouse. After this procedure, the mouse because a quadriplegic. Then the scientists injected embryonic stem cells into the tail of the mouse. The mouse, after about six weeks, regained movement in the arms and legs. It was less than before, but for the mouse to even gain movement again was astounding. The stem cells traveled from the tail of the mouse to the damaged (actually the missing) organ and fixed it. It is very amazing that the stem cells can find and fix the problem without being coaxed into doing so. One specific disease which stem cells may be used to cure in the future is Parkinson's disease. My father has this disease which in 5 years or less will put him in a wheel chair. It also causes his reaction rate to deteriorate and him to shake uncontrollably at times. With stem cell research, his disease can be cured. He also had a heart attack and some of his heart had to be removed. With stem cells, his heart can be returned to normal.

With modern genetics, there is no need to use immunosuppressive drugs because the stem cells are modified to produce cells genetically identical to the person receiving the cells. Immunosuppressive drugs are drugs which weaken the immune system so tissues that are put into a patient with a different genetic makeup than the tissue will not reject it. The knowledge which have shows that there really are no side effects, but as the research gets more in depth there may be discoveries of side effects.

There are a few requirements for stem cells to work. In our society today there is a huge debate of whether or not to use embryonic stem cells because they are coming from an embryo which one day may develop into a human. For stem cell operations to take place the government has to allow it to take