Adult And Embryonic Stem Cells example essay topic

Stem cells relate to the person health of an individual. Stem cells have the remarkable ability to develop into many different cell types in the body. Able to be a repair system for the body, they can divide without limit to replenish other cells as long as the person alive and able to provide nutrients to the cells. When a stem cell divides, each new cell has the potential to either remain a stem cell or become another type of cell, such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell, or a brain cell. Stem cells have two important characteristics that distinguishes them from other types of cells. First, they are cells, with no specific function, that renew themselves with cell division.

The second is that under certain conditions, they can be "induced" to become cells, such as the beating cells of the heart muscle or the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas. Scientists primarily work with two kinds of stem cells from animals and humans: bl embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells. Scientists discovered ways to obtain stem cells from experiments with mouse embryos, more than 20 years ago! (It would seem knowledge of stem cells would be much farther along by now) Many years of detailed study of the biology of mouse stem cells led to the discovery, in 1998, of how to isolate stem cells from human embryos and grow the cells in the laboratory. The embryos used in these studies were created for infertility purposes with "in vito fertilization".

Stem cells are important for living organisms for many reasons. During the first stages of a developing embryo, stem cells organize themselves into a certain order which will give rise to the multiple specialized cell types that make up the heart, lung, skin, and other tissues. In some adult tissues, such as bone marrow, muscle, and brain, adult stem cells are found. These stem cells are used to generate replacements for cells that are lost through normal wear and tear, injury, or disease.

The benefits of stem cells can be great. They can be used to cure many debilitating diseases. In a fairly recent study on the uses of stem cells to regenerate organs, a group of scientists surgically removed the spine of a mouse. After this procedure, the mouse because a quadriplegic. Then the scientists injected embryonic stem cells into the tail of the mouse. The mouse, after about six weeks, regained movement in the arms and legs.

It was less than before, but for the mouse to even gain movement again was astounding. The stem cells traveled from the tail of the mouse to the damaged (actually the missing) organ and fixed it. It is very amazing that the stem cells can find and fix the problem without being coaxed into doing so. One specific disease which stem cells may be used to cure in the future is Parkinson's disease. My father has this disease which in 5 years or less will put him in a wheel chair. It also causes his reaction rate to deteriorate and him to shake uncontrollably at times.

With stem cell research, his disease can be cured. He also had a heart attack and some of his heart had to be removed. With stem cells, his heart can be returned to normal. With modern genetics, there is no need to use immunosuppressive drugs because the stem cells are modified to produce cells genetically identical to the person receiving the cells.

Immunosuppressive drugs are drugs which weaken the immune system so tissues that are put into a patient with a different genetic makeup than the tissue will not reject it. The knowledge which have shows that there really are no side effects, but as the research gets more in depth there may be discoveries of side effects. There are a few requirements for stem cells to work. In our society today there is a huge debate of whether or not to use embryonic stem cells because they are coming from an embryo which one day may develop into a human. For stem cell operations to take place the government has to allow it to take place. Another requirement is a lab to harvest the embryonic stem cells and the patient to agree to have an embryo used in their name (some people may not want to use embryos for religious or other reasons.) The steps involved with undergoing embryonic stem cell "surgery" are fairly simple.

First, the hospital or laboratory will let an embryo develop into a blastocyst (young embryo). Then the stem cells will be harvested. The cells removed from the blastocyst will then be coaxed into replicating until the amount needed for the "surgery" is obtained. Once the needed amount is ready, the scientists will turn on the gene to create the type of cells needed.

These cells will then be surgically implanted into the specific area of interest. There are two types of stem cells. There are the human embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells. Each have advantages and disadvantages regarding potential use for cell-based therapies. Of course, adult and embryonic stem cells differ in the number and type of differentiated cells types they can become. Embryonic stem cells can become all cell types of the body.

Adult stem cells are limited to becoming the cell types of their tissue of origin. Large numbers of embryonic stem cells can be relatively easily grown in culture, while adult stem cells are rare in mature tissues and methods for expanding their numbers in cell culture have not yet been worked out. This is an important difference, as large numbers of cells are needed for stem cell replacement therapies. A potential advantage of using stem cells from an adult is that the patient's own cells could be expanded in culture and then reintroduced into the patient. Here is a list of five questions that I would ask a scientist in the field of stem cell research: 1.

With embryonic stem cells, how exactly do coax the stem cells into becoming the body tissue? 2. Could the use of either type of stem cells be used to regrow an almost dead organ by simply coaxing the stem cells into becoming the organ tissues and implanting the cells onto the organ? 3.

Can the stem cells be used to enhance already functioning organs? For instance, could I build muscle quickly and effectively using stem cells? 4. Do the stem cells harvested from an embryo have certain DNA, or is it like a chameleon and change its DNA to match its environment? 5. Can the embryonic stem cells grow into a living organism outside of the uterus on its own?