Cord Blood Stem Cells Information

Stem cells and cloning?

•Stems cells can be totipotent, pluripotent or multipotent. What do each of these terms mean? With this in mind, why are pluripotent embryonic stem cells used in therapeutic cloning research? •Give two examples (other than treatment of Parkinson’s disease) of how embryonic stem cells could be used to treat disease. •Why is the use of adult stem cells often unsatisfactory for therapeutic cloning? Give an example where adult stem cells have been used to treat/cure a disease. •Give two realistic/sensible (even if you do not believe in reproductive cloning) uses of reproductive cloning. Justify their use.

Public Comments

1. One example of reproductive cloning: several labs world-wide are using cloning techniques to try to create specimens of extinct species using genetic material that can be salvaged from preserved specimens in museums and/or private collections.
2. This site http://www.medindia.net/patients/patientinfo/stemcells_adult.htm has definitions and the information about totipotent, pluripotent, and multipotent stems cells. As for the pluripotent stem cells being used in therapeutic cloning, the website aforementioned stated, "Pluripotent cells are more versatile than an adult stem cell and can produce many different cell types." A large amount of research has been performed using stems cells to assist bones in healing faster. There has also been research performed in which stem cells have reduced the pain of angina. Adult stem cells are not useful in cloning because they already have a destination programmed into them. Manipulation of the cell has to be performed to adjust them to their new destination. As mentioned above there was a report in February of 2008 stating that during clinical trials at Royal Melbourne Hospital in Australia stem cells were used to assist in the faster regeneration of bone tissue. Stem cells can be beneficial in organ cloning for research. Although the organs are for research they can be tested for in vivo use, if high reliability (internally) was found they could then be inserted in humans in clinical trials. In organs could be cloned freely, alleviated would be the long list of people that are waiting for a donor. Another benefit of stems cells is they can replace permanently degenerated cells (wear and tear theory) or cells that can no longer be produced by the body, such as cells that are found in the brain and spinal cord. Two benefits: If a couple could not conceive a child, they could create a clone in their image. If a couple had genetic defects, such as Huntington's they could reproductively clone their offspring, and extract the genes that are responsible for the disorder.