Posted by admin | Posted in Stem Cells | Posted on 03-12-2009-05-2008
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Human Stem Cells represent cellular formations without a determined body function; they first grow in embryonic tissues when the body is developing, and more groups of specialized cells become necessary, but they happen to be part of adult tissues as well. It seems that the recovery from disease, injury or decay is only possible thanks to the human stem cells that remain inactive until the time comes to regenerate tissues. Human stem cells can surely prove a medical hope for the treatment of irrecoverable diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, Cancer, strokes, diabetes or heart attacks. With strenuous scientific efforts such progress becomes a reachable goal.
Human stem cells collected from embryos causes death to the donating embryo. For such reasons, human embryo stem cell research was given an eight-year ban during the Bush administration of the US. Presently, efforts are being made to develop a technique that would enable skin cells to be converted into induced pluripotent stem cells instead of the embryonic ones. At the moment, views and opinions still have a bias, as many people tend to see a real human person in the fertilized encounter between an ovum and a spermatozoon.
Adult human stem cells are not subject to controversy but they are definitely limited in terms of research capacities. In the mature form, stem cells can only develop into certain types of cells with specific functions, and therefore, they cannot be part of the same unlimited number of options provided by embryo research. The choice could be pretty difficult if we consider the ethical point of view: how moral is it to stop the physiological evolution into a human being for the sake of science? And on the other hand, human stem cells could help to the creation of a panacea.
Although in the testing part goes great and, human stem cells seem to be efficient treatments, the clinical programs are far from being over. Some mysteries still escape scientific deciphering. For example, the origin of the adult human stem cells is not known at the moment, and, while things seem to be clear with embryonic research while adult stem cell studies are far from being over. This is not the only example, as there are many other blank spaces that science needs to fill before discovering the cure for all diseases and the fountain of youth.
Posted by admin | Posted in Stem Cells | Posted on 02-12-2009-05-2008
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As it is easy to understand from their name, embryonic Stem Cells come from embryos. They are extracted from microscopic balls of cells that represent the initial stage of embryo formation. The main source is from eggs fertilized artificially for various couples, but usually not all of them are necessary for the implantation. Such biological material can be disposed of for research purposes only with the consent of the rightful owner. It is also possible to grow embryonic stem cells in the laboratory in what is known as cell culture. All sorts of difficulties and challenges appear in the artificial creation of embryonic stem cells, and the inefficiency of embryonic cell lines is often brought into discussion.
The embryonic stem cells that grow in cultures and subcultures divide without differentiation, preserving their unspecialized status for more than six months. An embryonic stem cell line is created when all the cells in a culture are genetically normal while remaining unspecialized. Further experimentation can be carried on from such stages in other facilities, but only after freezing the cell batches. How is embryonic stem cells identification possible? Although tests are conducted both on human and animal embryonic stem cells, there is no singular group of features that may characterize human cell groups.
Embryonic stem cells are usually analyzed under the microscope and this represents the main procedure to determine their self-renewal and long term growth potential. Further investigations involve the generation of proteins that is specific to undifferentiated cells and thus becomes a diagnosis criterion or tool. The analysis of the chromosomes is equally important to reveal the genetic health of the embryonic stem cells. There is no other form in fact to detect genetic mutations in the cells and establish whether the evolution is normal or not. Thus, precision and care in the performance of the laboratory routine is a rule of professional conduct strictly followed.
The possibility to use embryonic stem cells for the regeneration of organs or body tissues comes from the scientific possibility to manipulate the biological material and make the cells differentiate according to the needs. Thus, the chemical composition of the culture medium, the insertion of special genes and the alteration of the culture dish represent methods of controlling and triggering the differentiation. At present, research is still in progress and results are still not conclusive enough to allow the transplant of artificially grown cells into the human body for the treatment of various diseases but the future seems to be bright in this direction.
Posted by admin | Posted in Stem Cells | Posted on 01-12-2009-05-2008
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Embryonic stem cell research has revealed the different potential in embryonic and adult Stem Cells. The number of limitations in terms of curative therapeutic applications is higher in the case of adult stem cells that cannot develop into a too large number of tissues. Moreover, the rarity, the collection difficulty and the challenge of growing them in cultures make the biggest impediments for adult stem cells. Therefore, the highest emphasis falls on embryonic stem cell research, most medical hopes come from this direction. The transplant rejection nevertheless remains the most serious problem to be overcome in clinical trials.
Embryonic stem cell research was banned in American during the Bush administration. The end of this bare period came in March 2009 when the new American president lifted the ban and allowed the research processes to be reinitialized. Scientists are unsure about what to expect from embryonic stem cell research because great benefits as well as serious dangers are revealed by lab work. Apparently, it is in such futuristic remedies that the cure for the most devastating diseases may be found. If a person immobilized in a wheel chair because of spinal cord injury can walk again, then, hopes can be high for a number of other diseases.
Embryonic stem cell research still causes lots of heated international controversies and debates. How moral is the use of human embryos in research? The biological material usually comes from in-vitro fertilization clinics, where the remaining embryos are donated for scientific purposes. The pro-life movement that opposes embryonic stem cell research brings lots of arguments against the use of such material for scientific purposes. There is life involved, and scientists are playing God with it, ending or allowing it to continue as it suits their observational purposes.
For the moment, embryonic stem cell research lacks in many respects. Progress is being made in the attempt to discover new remedies for irrecoverable diseases, yet, the path is very sinuous. Question marks do remain in relation to the morality of the process, to the safety of the innovative treatments and to the extent or efficiency of the results. The issue can be carried on along these debate tones, as no relevant common conclusion can be reached for the time being.
Posted by admin | Posted in Stem Cells | Posted on 30-11-2009-05-2008
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From the many experimental studies conducted at present, embryo stem cell research is definitely one of the most controversial. Stem Cells have to be collected from live embryos, a process during which the parenting cells die: this is the reason why so many pro-lifers speak of homicide. The problem is that starting from a mere embryo stem cell formation, scientists are now capable of creating all sorts of therapies and cures to deal with diseases and injuries that have always been diagnosed as irrecoverable. There are other sources for stem cells besides embryos, such as adult tissues or regular somatic cells, but the possibilities they bring are limited.
Any embryo stem cell that lives in a blastocyst (the resulting cell after the fertilization of an ovum by a spermatozoon) is infinite in terms of evolutionary potential since it contains all the incipient cells for the future body tissues and organs. All the complex body structures afterwards evolve from this primary cellular grouping that divides in an organized manner. The benefits and successes of science in this domain of research have an incredible value, but many people wonder whether we are neglecting the rights of human life in its very early stages of development. From this point of view any embryo stem cell research represents a violation of the life sacredness.
Medical scientists agree unanimously that the embryo stem cell research could alleviate incredible sufferance and treat diseases that have no solutions in the traditional medical perspective. Scientists are also making efforts to come up with some substitutes for any embryo stem cell necessity by identifying other sources of stem cells. For example, the amniotic liquid seems to be very rich in such cell formations, and the sample collection poses no threat to the fetus. Then, another recent discovery has been the possibility for the reversed function of normal somatic cells that can be reprogrammed into becoming stem cells once again.
Last but not least, we ought to refer to the great success in embryo stem cell research that consists in the collection of stem cells from an embryo without harming it during the process. This achievement is relatively new but it definitely solves the ethical concerns that made the foundation for so many objections. Nevertheless, there are lots of other things to consider and implement in modern medicine, before embryo stem cell research may solve the problem of the chronic diseases decimating humanity.
Posted by admin | Posted in Stem Cells | Posted on 29-11-2009-05-2008
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Few people know that almost all the body tissues contain undifferentiated cells or adult stem cell formations necessary for the tissue and organ regeneration in case of injury or disease damage. While an embryonic stem cell originates in the blastocyst, the initial cellular organization out of which the embryo evolves, scientists still don’t know anything about the origin of an adult stem cell as part of mature tissues. The capacity of the adult Stem Cells to generate new tissues has caused a revolution in the medical world: this is in fact the explanation for the success of bone marrow transplants.
The great discovery is that a single adult stem cell can evolve in different specialized categories, according to individual conditions. Presently, it is a generally recognized fact that adult stem cells are present in the heart as well as in the brain, which was previously unbelievable. The beginning of all studies goes fifty years back when the first bone marrow researchers were ready to understand the presence of two types of stem cells in the spinal cord. A first group generates the blood in its complexity, while a second one works to produce connective tissues, cartilages, bones and fat.
Discoveries are undoubtedly amazing, but adult stem cell research has had difficulties in creating laboratory cultures on the basis of samples taken from adult tissues. Although stem cells are present in a small number in all tissues, their capacity to proliferate is limited, which leads to the difficulty to create large quantities in the laboratory. An adult stem cell is believed to remain inactive in tissues, and it only activates when necessary because of some physical trauma or body failure. The major issue at present is the creation of adult stem cell cultures and their manipulation for disease treatment.
If control became possible over adult stem cell categories, medicine would be able to replace the dopamine-producing cells in the brains of Parkinson’s disease sufferers, or grow the insulin generating cells that would cure diabetes. Moreover, if methods are found to regenerate the cardiac muscle tissues, then the number of heart attacks will no longer prove so life-claiming. Various genetic experiments are further conducted to identify and separate adult stem cell groups as a means of creating more powerful and effective disease treatment.