A Stem cell is a biological cell that has the ability to divide. From that cell division, other cells can divide. A stem cell can divide again and again to make more stem cells, when it divides it makes an exact copy of same biological stem cell.
Stem cells are the first building blocks of our body. They are the mother cells and have potential to become any type of cell in the body. Stem cells can become cells of the hair, brain, heart, blood, bones, skin, muscles, etc. Stem cell research on humans began in the 1960's.
TYPES OF STEM CELL UMBILICAL STEM CELL EMBRYONIC STEM CELL ADULT STEM CELL Fetal Stem Cells Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPS cells) UMBILICAL STEM CELL
At birth blood in the umbilical cord is rich in blood-forming stem cells. The applications of cord blood are similar to those of adult bone marrow and are currently used to treat diseases. Umbilical or cord blood stem cells are tissue-specific.
ADULT STEM CELLS
Adult or somatic stem cells exist throughout the body after embryonic development and are found inside of different types of tissue. These stem cells have been found in tissues such as the brain, bone marrow, blood, blood vessels, skeletal muscles, skin, and the liver. They remain in a non-dividing state for years until activated by disease or tissue injury. Adult stem cells can divide or self-renew indefinitely, enabling them to generate a range of cell types from the originating organ or even regenerate the entire original organ. It is generally thought that adult stem cells are limited in their ability to differentiate based on their tissue of origin, but there is some evidence to suggest that they can differentiate to become other cell types.
EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS
Embryonic stem cells are derived from a four- or five-day-old human embryo that is in the blastocyst phase of development. In a normal pregnancy, the blastocyst stage continues until implantation of the embryo in the uterus, at which point the embryo is referred to as a fetus. This usually occurs by the end of the 10th week, However, when extracting embryonic stem cells, the blastocyst stage signals when to isolate stem cells by placing the "inner cell mass" of the blastocyst into a culture dish containing a nutrient-rich broth. Eventually, these undifferentiated cells can be stimulated to create specialized cells.
FETAL STEM CELLS
Fetal stem cells are taken from the fetus. The developing baby is referred to as a fetus from approximately 10 weeks of gestation. Most tissues in a fetus contain stem cells that drive the rapid growth and development of the organs. Like adult stem cells, fetal stem cells are generally tissue-specific, and generate the mature cell types within the particular tissue or organ in which.
INDUCED PLURIPOTENT STEM CELLS (IPSCS)
Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are adult cells that have been genetically reprogrammed to an embryonic stem cell�like state by being forced to express genes and factors important for maintaining the defining properties of embryonic stem cells. Although these cells meet the defining criteria for pluripotent stem cells, it is not known if iPSCs and embryonic stem cells differ in clinically significant ways. Mouse iPSCs were first reported in 2006, and human iPSCs were first reported in late 2007. Mouse iPSCs demonstrate important characteristics of pluripotent stem cells, including expressing stem cell markers, forming tumors containing cells from all three germ layers, and being able to contribute to many different tissues when injected into mouse embryos at a very early stage in development. Human iPSCs also express stem cell markers and are capable of generating cells characteristic of all three germ layers.
