what are stemcells(biology)?

Question

it is one of the type of treatment......

Answer 1

STEM CELLS IN BIOLOGY ARE living organisms, an undifferentiated cell that can produce other cells that eventually make up specialized tissues and organs. There are two major types of stem cells, embryonic and adult. Embryonic stem cells are located in the inner mass of a blastocyst (an embryo at a very early stage of development), and they eventually give rise to every cell type of the adult organism. Adult stem cells are found in some tissues in the adult body, such as the epidermis of the skin, the lining of the small intestine, and the bone marrow, where they serve in the regeneration of old or worn tissue. In cancer treatment, blood-forming adult stem cells are routinely harvested from bone marrow, stored, and then reinfused into patients to replace blood cells destroyed by chemotherapy or radiation therapy. This potential for replacing damaged tissues has aroused great interest in using embryonic stem cells to treat a number of other conditions, such as Parkinson disease, severe burns, and damage to the spinal cord. Mouse embryonic stem cells are widely used to create genetically modified mice that serve as models for investigating human disease. However, the use of human embryonic stem cells, which requires destroying the blastocysts from which they are obtained, has raised objections by those who feel blastocyst-stage embryos are human beings. The first human stem cell line was created in 1998, using cells harvested from embryos produced through in vitro fertilization. The use of human embryonic stem cells is allowed in some countries and prohibited or restricted in others.-

Answer 2

Stem cells are primal cells found in all multi-cellular organisms. They retain the ability to renew themselves through mitotic cell division and can differentiate into a diverse range of specialized cell types. Research in the human stem cell field grew out of findings by Canadian scientists Ernest A. McCulloch and James E. Till in the 1960s.

Answer 3

actually stem cells are the one's which produce the blood cells. These are found in the bone marrow and are VERY specific for evey individual. It is said one in a million would have compatible stem cells. In case of blood cancer the stem cells from the marrow of the donor can be transplanted to the marrow of the patient. But this happens very rarely as it is VERY tough to find the compatible stem cells.
I hope i was able to help you a little if not completely.

Answer 4

When a sperm fertilize an egg, together they form ONE cell. it is the start of a human being whom have many systems, e.g. for digesting food, for taking in oxygen, for mobility.........
All these systems will develop from that single CELL, which starts to multiply ( to make enough number of cells to be able to build all those systems).....After having a reasonable number of cells, they start to specialize, i.e. some to make bones, some to make muscles, some to make brain and nerves......etc.
The stem cells are these cells BEFORE specialization.
You can guess that they have the ability to make ANY organ of the body, so they are used to make whatever type of tissue we lose from our body. It is in an initial stage and not yet able to make them do everything, but reach is ON.

Answer 5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_cell
read this it will give other other links to look at also.