Some research findings suggest that certain adult stem cells can act as pluripotent cells. With continued rearch, clarity of this matter may solve the ethical issues behind ES isolation and research and provide hope for patients ( any idea on it )?
2006-12-05 03:59:51 · 1 answers · asked by Binna S 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Medicine
There is a real different between "pluripotent" and "totipotent". Embryonic stem cells are totipotent, meaning they have the capacity to differentiate into every cell type in the body. Pluripotent stem cells can only become a limited number of different cell types. We've been taking advantage of adult stem cells for a long time by doing bone marrow transplants. But so far, embryonic stem cells are the only ones that have the ability to form certain cell types.
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute just had a series of lectures about stem cells. If you go to http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/stemcells/lectures.html
you can view these lectures online. Each lecture is about 60 minutes long.
2006-12-05 04:08:19 · answer #1 · answered by hcbiochem 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋