Cord Blood Stem Cells Information

What are stem cells and how can they be used?

Can someone please explain to me what they are using simple terms? Everything I read on the internet is so complicated. Where can we get stem cells?

Public Comments

1. They are the special forces of cells. They are undefined tissue cells that are waiting for direction on where and what to grow into. They can be any cell in the body where and when needed. Stem cells come mostly from the inside of your nose or your marrow. And they freeze the umbilical cord so if the baby gets sick they have his stem cells. There is no research on embryos it is illegal. Don't listen to Conservative idiots who have no clue what research can do for humanity. Individual nerve cells can grow very long and that is why it is hard to regenerate them. Adult cells can grow into any cell in the body. ANY. It is the growing of limbs and systems that is holding up research NOT the ability to grow a certain type of tissue.
2. stem cells are unspecialized cells that are not part of anything yet. once they get the "signal", they will become a skin cell, a blood cell, or some other cell stem cells are obtained from embryos, which is why theres an ethical controversy of stem cell research however, you can imagine the possibilities using embryonic stem cells. it has the potential form any type of cell, in theory it could be used to cure anything, like a broken spine, or a damaged lung. stem cells can also be obtained from adult tissue cells, however, these cells mainly act as repair. they cannot be used to form other specialized cells. for example: a skin stem cell will repair the skin when its damaged, but it cannot be used to repair nerve tissue cells recently, a scientist in Japan have discovered a technique to use adult stem cells to act like embryonic stem cells. Using this technique, adult stem cells are now able to specialize into any other cell, and thus eliminating the ethical controversy of stem cell research using embryonic stem cells
3. Think of it this way, you started as a single cell that divided billions of times. That single cell had the potential to give rise to any type of cell in your body. But future cells don't have this ability, why? It has been cut off through genetic programming. It is called differentiation. Stem cells taken from the embryo haven't been programmed yet, so scientists believe they can grow anything using them. Stem cells taken from later in life such as from the umbilical cord or from bone marrow in the adult have been programmed (differentiated) and are less able to become anything. This theory is being challenged by people who work with adult stem cells and believe that these cells can be de-programmed to become like embryonic cells.
4. there are two types of cells in a human's body: stem cell and germ cell... ger cell is the sex cells (egg cell and sperm cell) stem cell is all of the cell in your body aside from sperm or egg cell... :)
5. In simple terms a stem cell is one cell that can differentiate to become several other cell types. The easiest example would be a fertilised egg: it is one cell type (a fertilised ovum), but it can divide and "choose" which cell type it becomes later - as *all* the many different cell types found in your body come from that one original cell (nerve cells, muscle cells, fat cells, etc.). There are several types of stem cell, which are classified by how many different cell types they can theoretically differentiate into: [1] Totipotent stem cell - these can become *any* of the cell types found in your body. Early embryonic stem cells are of this type. [2] Pluripotent stem cells - the very first stage of embryonic cell differentiation is the development of three "germ layers", which will each become several different tissues in the adult body. The Endoderm becomes your digestive system (stomach, intestines, colon), liver, lungs, and bladder. The Mesoderm becomes your muscle, skeleton, connective tissue, kidneys, heart, blood, and spleen. The Ectoderm becomes your nerves and central nervous system, eyes, skin, and hair. A pluripotent stem cell can become any cell type from *one* of these germ layers. Later embryonic stem cells are of this type. [3] Multipotent stem cell - these are more fixed in lineage, but can still become several different cell types. So a hematopoetic stem cell is found in your bone marrow and can become any blood cell type (red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, etc.). Adult stem cells are of this type. Embryonic stem cells are taken from fertilised embryos (usually at the 4-8 cell stage). The most common source is "leftover" fertilised eggs after successful IVF treatment. When a fertility clinic fertilises a woman's eggs for IVF treatment, they usually fertilise and implant multiple eggs at once, to maximise the chances of a successful pregnancy. After (hopefully) a succesfuly pregnanacy, they will often have extra fertilised eggs left over: these can either be thrown away, or they could be used for a source of stem cells. Adult stem cells are much harder to find and isolate, and we don't know where all the stem cells are for all the cell types in the adult body (in fact, for some there might not be a stem cell population). So embryonic stem cells are much more appealing for use. However - some locations for different adult stem cells are: bone marrow (which has multiple different stem cell types), and the umbilical cord (which contain the same kind of hematopoetic stem cells as adult bone marrow). Teeth also contain stem cells, as do many other tissues. Stem cells can be *used* to replace defective or missing cells in the adult body. One prime example would be multiple sclerosis - a disease caused by the death of Schwann cells, which provide the myelin sheath that is essential for proper neuron function. If we could obtain stem cells for these Schwann cells, and convince them to differentiate into Schwann cells, we could theoretically replace the Schwann cells in an MS patient and cure the disease (of course, there would be technical difficulties in actually introducing the cells into the patient too). Another example, recently popularised by Christopher Reeve, would be in replacing damaged nerve cells in patients who had suffered a broken spine: the nerve cells in the spine do not regenerate themselves, but if we could replace them, we could treat such injuries.