What is an adult or somatic stem cell?
They are stem cells found in the tissue and organs of organisms that have the potential to become their tissue of origin. Essentially, adult or somatic stem cells are tissue specific stem cells that will have a specific occupation within the organism, for example, embryonic stem cells that differentiate or become heart stem cells will form heart tissue. Such cells have the ability to replenish or maintain tissues that have a limited life span, such as skin and intestines. For example, the human intestine sheds and replaces 100 billion cells daily by dividing stem cells that generate replacements for the short-lived cells. Thus, adult or somatic stem cells are “differentiated” or specifically assigned to the creation or replenishing of cells in specific tissues or organs.
