Stem Cells: Types, Uses, & Sources

Stem Cells have the power of forming the entire human body, where, at the very beginning of life, a fertilized egg cell divides repeatedly to eventually make all the organs and tissues of the body. In stem cells, the word stem means ‘a line of ancestry’ or ‘to make headway’. We know that every living thing has cells that differentiate a living thing from a non-living thing. In every living thing, all the organisms are composed of cells as a micrometre-sized block. These cells are unicellular organisms or multicellular organisms that are existing and truly fundamental and structural units of life. In the early 1990 researchers find out that stem cells are so important for humans and after that, the research on stem cells uses are continuing till today.

Key Terms: Stem Cells, Cells, Embryo, Tissues, Multicellular Organisms, Embryonic Stem Cells, Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, Cardiovascular Diseases, Blood Cells.

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What is a Stem Cell?

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In simple words, stem cells are unique cells in the embryo or adult that can be divided into unlimited numbers and can generate one or several different types of cells in the body. Most stem cells are used to replace damaged and lost tissues and cells from recovering from the disease. In medical science, it's a boon for the human where stem cells can be used to produce new cells lost due to any disease and stem cells divide and change into other types of cells that need the body. 

Lots of diseases such as tissue regeneration, cardiovascular disease, blood-related disease, brain diseases, and more. And now, researchers are also believing that they soon find out the cure for paralysis and Alzheimer's kinds of disease with the help of stem cells.

Stem Cells

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Types of Stem Cells

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In general, there are three types of Stem Cells as follows:

• Embryonic Stem Cells
• Adult Stem Cells
• Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPS)

Embryonic Stem Cells

Embryonic Stem cells are known as pluripotent that can supply new cells for an embryo and the cell change into a body such as a baby in the bomb of their mother grows and develop. The embryonic stem cells can be classified into the following types:

• Totipotent Stem Cells: These embryo cells can develop into all the possible types of Stem Cells.
• Pluripotent Stem Cells: First as an embryo and after that differentiate into any cell type.
• Multipotent Stem Cells: These embryo cells will differentiate into closely related cells used in medical treatment highly.
• Oligopotent Stem Cells: These embryo cells can differentiate into a few non-related different types of cells.
• Unipotent Stem Cells: These embryo cells can only develop their type cells and renew themselves for example Muscle stem cells.

Read More: Tissue Culture

Adult Stem Cells

Adult Stem Cells are available in the developed organ and tissues of the body. These cells can grow as new cells of the organism and replace damaged and lost cells. In other words, these Adult cells can repair and replace the damaged and lost cells in the organism where they are located.

In medical science, we have also known Adult stem cells as multipotent, which means the cells can change into the same cell in the body and not differentiate into their nature. For better understanding here are a few examples mentioned such as

• Hematopoietic Stem cells, an adult stem cell found in the human bone marrow and used in the treatment of a specific type of cancer.
• Blood cells can only replace with different types of blood cells such as red blood cells and white blood cells.
• Epithelial stem cells are also adult stem cells only uses in the transplant of hair and skin.

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPS)

Induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells are in a general embryo or adult cells that scientists induced in the laboratory to cure any specific disease. These stem cells have become a hope for the medical world to find out treatments for all kinds of rare diseases, and researchers are working on them. These cells are also used to learn the normal development, impact, and progression of the disease and are also helpful in testing various drugs.

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Uses of Stem Cells

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As we above state that medical science believes in the Stem cells' power and importance and continues its research in this field to find out possible cures and drugs for the diseases. Some benefits of Stem cells are as follows:

• Stem cells are helpful for researchers to know and understand the living thing's basic biology and help to diagnose the changes in cells during any disease.
• Stem cells replace lost or damaged cells that the human body can regenerate naturally but possibly in therapy.
• In research, understand how living things generate and develop.
• Find out new ways to replace cells or tissues that are damaged or lost.
• Study the specific cell performance and their development process and its result, to know what happens when any disease occurs.
• If we have detailed information about stem cells then we can replicate this process to create new cells, tissues and organs and save a life.
• The tissues and organ structure grow with the help of stem cells, which can be helpful in kidney and liver or skin transplants to repair severe burns or injuries.
• Due to research work in Stem cell treatment of some crucial diseases are possible such as cardiovascular diseases, brain disease, blood disease, etc.

Applications of Stem Cells

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Things to Remember

• Stem cells are capable of forming an entire human body.
• The important function of stem cells is to divide and give rise to the same and specialized stem cells in the body.
• Stem cells can replenish themselves and provide new specialized cells to develop new cells or repair the damaged and lost ones.
• An inner cell mass (group of one region of cells) contains all the pluripotent stem cells that will develop as a fetus, and eventually, create an adult human being.
• The strength of bone marrow stem cells is highest in young children and declines with the age of humans.

Read More: Types of Tissues

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