stem cells :: essays research papers

The history of research on big angry walk cells began about 40 years ago. In the 1960s, researchers observed that the tog up marrow contains at least two kinds of stem cells. One population, called hematopoietic stem cells, forms all the types of blood cells in the embody.A second population, called bone marrow stromal cells was discovered a few years later. Stromal cells are a mixed cell population that generates bone, cartilage, fat, and fibrous connective tissue. Also in the 1960s, scientists who were canvass rats discovered two regions of the brain that contained dividing cells, which become nerve cells. Despite these reports, most scientists believed that new nerve cells could not be generated in the adult brain. It was not until the mid-nineties that scientists agreed that the adult brain does contain stem cells that are able to generate the brains three major cell types astrocytes (star shaped neurological cell) and oligodendrocytes, which are non-neuronal cells, and n eurons or nerve cells.ABOUT ADULT/EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS AND DIFFERENCESAdult Stem cells are thought to reside in a specific area of from each one tissue where they may remain (non-dividing) for many years until they are activated by disease or tissue injury. The adult tissues reported to contain stem cells include brain, bone marrow, peripheral blood, blood vessels, skeletal muscle, skin and liver.Human embryonic and adult stem cells each have advantages and disadvantages regarding potential use for cell-based regenerative 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 because they are pluripotent(single cell becoming many different cell types). Adult stem cells are generally limited to differentiating into different cell types of their tissue of personal credit lineLarge numbers of embryonic stem cells can be relatively easily grown in cultu re, while adult stem cells are grand in mature tissues and methods for expanding their numbers in cell culture have not yet been worked out.