2006-07-19 11:30:12 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Other - Politics & Government
you mean the difference between embryonic stem cells and grown up human cells?? the difference is stem cells haven't define their function yet, so they can practically become any cell in the whole body, the cells that we grown ups have, is that our cells are already defined, they are for example, neurons or white blood cells or pancreatic cells, etc... each of this cell has a specific function and makes protein that other cells might not produce, stem cells are cells that yet don't produce specific proteins (like insuline, produced by pancreatic cells) because they do not form part of an organ, ste cells can define their function just by beeing in contacto with cells that already are defined, for example if you have a piece of pancreas that works correctly, just by adding some stem cells to it, this stem cells will become pancreatic cells, just so that you can understan, is kind of a coplex process but it's really workin in new medicine
2006-07-19 11:39:43 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
An embryonic stem cell is a cell taken from an embryo. Whether or not you believe an embryo is a human being, the cell certainly isn't -- it's like the difference between your skin cell and you.
The controversy comes because in order to extract a stem cell from an embryo, you have to destroy the embryo.
IMHO, an embryo is a potential human being -- it's the acorn, not the oak tree.
2006-07-19 18:35:36 · answer #2 · answered by PrincipalNZF 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A human is a person, who is living and has been born. An embryonic stem cell is not a person, hasn't been born and if you call being frozen in nitrogen living, have I got a tank on a tank truck you can move into.
2006-07-19 18:36:31 · answer #3 · answered by iknowtruthismine 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A stem cell is an undesignated cell for the human body. It has the potential to be any kind of cell or no cell at all. In the event that said cells "differentiate" into the four basic types of tissues (epithelial, muscle, connective, and nervous). Then organize and arrange themselves in such a way to form organs and organ systems. Then reproduce in the proper way to form a viable organism, then they become a human being.
2006-07-19 19:16:07 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
A stem cell basically has no program yet. It can receive data (via DNA) to start turning into anything. It's kinda like a blank. Then you tell it what to do and it becomes a specialized cell.
2006-07-19 18:34:06 · answer #5 · answered by Phoenix, Wise Guru 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The human being is generally a lot smarter.
2006-07-19 18:37:11 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋