What are adult stem cells?
Stem cells are generally early stage cells that have the ability to continuously divide and differentiate (develop) into other specialized types of cells. For example, stem cells can turn into liver cells, skin cells, nerve cells etc. Like a blank microchip that can ultimately be programmed to perform any one of a number of specialized tasks, stem cells are undifferentiated cells that do not yet have a specific physiological function. When proper conditions occur in the body or lab, stem cells begin to develop into specialized tissues and organs. These cells may have differing abilities to turn into more specialized cells and are self-sustaining, replicating through cell division. These unique features are why stem cell research holds such promise for the treatment of life-threatening and debilitating diseases such as Alzheimer’s, cancer, Parkinson’s and juvenile diabetes. There are two main categories of stem cells: embryonic and adult. Embryonic stem cells which are harvested from th
Adult stem cells are the reserve supply of cells that can multiply when needed for repair of adult organs and tissues. Skin is an example: skin wounds are repaired by skin stem cells, similarly, liver damage is repaired by liver stem cells. Adult stem cells start out as embryonic stem cells, then become fetal stem cells, and mature into adult stem cells. For example, if it takes 20 maturation steps for an embryonic stem cell to turn into a mature skin cell, skin stem cells are at step 15; they are not quite mature skin cells, but they cannot back-up to become another cell type, such as a heart muscle cell.
Adult stem cells are stem cells that have already started to develop into a particular cell type. These stem cells are found in adult tissue and also in other fully developed tissue. For example, the stem cells found in the umbilical cord during and shortly after delivery are considered adult stem cells because they have already partially developed into blood cells. Adult stem cells replenish the tissues where they are found, such as new skin that develops when a wound heals. They are able to renew themselves and are considered “multipotent,” meaning they can sometimes turn into several different kinds of cells within the same basic cell type. For instance, adult stem cells found in bone marrow can turn into all of the different types of cells found in blood. Research on adult stem cells has been funded for over 40 years and several successful therapies have been developed. But scientists believe that, because of their versatility, the potential of embryonic stem cells is even greater
