Embryonic Stem Cells
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Embryonic stem cells contain different properties: having a normal karyotype, maintaining high telomerase activity, and exhibiting remarkable long-term proliferative potential. They originate as an embryo in the blastocyst. From the blasocyst, they enter the self-renewal stage, detach, and divide into two, making exact copies of their cells to multiply. From their duplications, they develop into a certain cell overtime: nerve cells, muscle cells, germ cells, etc. This is their primary function - to develop into cells that provide for the body.
Tissue - Specific Stem Cells
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Tissue-specific stem cells, also known as somatic or adult stem cells, are more specialized than embryonic stem cells. The tissues and organs inside your body contain these cells, which can generate different cell types for a specific tissue or organ within your body. Its main function is to replace any tissue that was lost in daily living (skin, blood, or the linings around the stomach) with new tissue. However, tissue-specific stem cells cannot easily renew itself compared to embryonic stem cells.
Mesenchymal Stem Cells
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Mesenchymal (MSC) stem cells were initially found within bone marrow. Its capabilities include forming bones, cartilage, and fat cells. According to A Closer Look At Stem Cells, they then have been grown from other tissues, such as fat and cord blood . These types of stem cells are isolated from stroma (connective tissues that cover other organs and tissues). Relevantly, not all mesenchymal stem cells are alike. Its characteristics depend on where in the body it's from and how it is isolated and developed.
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
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Induced pluripotent stem cells (IPS), in particular, are not necessarily formed within the body naturally - they were engineered in science labs. The whole process was to convert tissue-specific stem cells into cells that have a similar behavior as embryonic stem cells. The first induced pluripotent stem cells were produced by using viruses to insert extra copies of genes into tissue-specific cells. Induced pluripotent stem cells are critical tools to help scientists learn more about the normal development of the human body, diseases onset, and progression. Researchers are experimenting with many alternate ways to create IPS cells so that they can ultimately be used as a source of cells or tissues for medical treatments.
More types of stem cells exist, and each type of stem cell has contributed to the expansion of knowledge regarding the human body and diseases.