The ability of stem cells to proliferate and to differentiate into specialized cell types makes them potentially useful for the repair and replacement of damaged and diseased tissues, see THERAPEUTIC CLONING. Hence it seems that they are capable of being genetically reprogrammed. However, adult stem cells appear to have the potential to generate specialized cells of another tissue under appropriate conditions, for example cells from bone marrow generating cells resembling NEURONS and other cell types found in the brain. Pluripotent stem cells are cells that have the capacity to self-renew by dividing and to develop into the three primary germ cell layers of the early embryo and therefore into all. An adult stem cell is an undifferentiated cell occurring in differentiated tissue, such as that of BONE MARROW, BRAIN, SKELETAL MUSCLE, LIVER, SKIN, PANCREAS or the BLOOD, with the capacity to yield specialized cell types of the tissue of origin.
they are ‘pluripotent’, but they do not have identical properties. Embryonic stem cells and germ cells have the potential to differentiate into almost any or all of the cell types of the body i.e. An embryonic germ cell derives from foetal cells destined to be reproductive cells (see GERM LINE). The process of stem cell collection at birth, preservation and storage for future use is called stem cell banking. This group of cells can be removed and cultured into embryonic stem cells. An embryonic stem cell derives from a group of cells, the inner cell mass, from a 4–5 day old embryo, called a BLASTOCYST.
Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing © Farlex 2012 stem cell a special kind of cell from an EMBRYO, FOETUS or adult, capable of renewing itself under certain conditions, and of becoming specialized cells that make up the different TISSUES and ORGANS of the body A stem cell remains largely undifferentiated and uncommitted to a specific function, until it receives a signal to develop into a specialized cell (see CELL DIFFERENTIATION).
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