2006-12-21 08:11:27 · 2 answers · asked by mriganka m 1 in Health ➔ Diseases & Conditions ➔ Cancer
basically all type STEM CELLS are MULTIPOTENT... being able to produce many specialized cells is one of the fundamental properties of stem cells...if cells do not divide and give dif type of specialized cells than they are not stem cells...
and if you an example,Embryonic stem cells(present in embryo) are perfect example of multipotent or totipotent cells...they can prod numerous types of specialized cells such as cells of heart,liver,lung.etc. infact they are resp for prod cells of organs of an embryo...
adult stem cells are also mulitpotent but u can say that they are specific for an organ or system such as haemopoitic stem cells can prod bld cells but they cannot prod other cells of body similarly stem cells are present in basal layer of epithelium and prod all the specialized cells of epithelium..similiarly stem cells of liver hav the ability to prod hepatocytes specially in cond of liver tissue destruction...the same multipotent nature of stem cells help and play role in our bodys normal wound healing...so stem cells hav multipotent ability in contrast to normal somatic cells
2006-12-21 08:53:17 · answer #1 · answered by sCrUbs 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
many of the cells in the bone marrow answer to that description, and basically every cell in an early embryo is totipotent - it can develop into any tissue that can be found in the human body, though they only retain that potential for a short time.
2006-12-21 16:16:58 · answer #2 · answered by The Doc 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋