What do you think about stem cell research?

Given their unique regenerative abilities, stem cells offer new potentials for treating diseases such as diabetes, and heart disease. Research on stem cells continues to advance knowledge about how an organism develops from a single cell and how healthy cells replace damaged cells in adult organisms.

Why is using animals in stem cell research important?

The importance of animal stem cell research is to see how their regeneration process unfolds, that is, to discover how animals naturally restore body parts lost to trauma. help create therapies to treat diseases and injuries, or use adult stem cells to regenerate a person’s damaged tissue or organ.

Why are stem cells important in medical research?

Why are stem cells important? Stem cells represent an exciting area in medicine because of their potential to regenerate and repair damaged tissue. Some current therapies, such as bone marrow transplantation, already make use of stem cells and their potential for regeneration of damaged tissues.

Why do you think stem cell research is so controversial?

However, human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research is ethically and politically controversial because it involves the destruction of human embryos. In the United States, the question of when human life begins has been highly controversial and closely linked to debates over abortion.

What do you think about the current development in stem cell treatment?

Medical researchers believe that stem cell treatments have the potential to change the face of human disease and alleviate suffering. A number of current stem cell treatments already exists, although they are not commonly used because they tend to be experimental and not very cost-effective.

Should stem cells be used in medicine?

Stem cells could help medicine in three general ways: cell-based therapies, drug discovery and basic knowledge. Cell therapies would use stem cells, or cells grown from stem cells, to replace or rejuvenate damaged tissue. Scientists also want to use stem cells to understand disease and find drugs that might treat it.

How could stem cells be used in veterinary medicine for dogs?

The most common and successful veterinary use of stem cells treats osteoarthritis in dogs, as well as injuries to bones, joints, tendons, ligaments, and the spinal cord. Early research also shows that stem cells might successfully treat dry eye in dogs and stomatitis — a severe, painful oral disease — in cats.

Is stem cell research tested on animals?

In the foreseeable future embryonic stem cell research will continue to depend on the use of animals and animal products, but in the long run, embryonic stem cell research may reduce the need for certain types of animal research, especially toxicity and drug testing in animals.

Where do stem cells used in medicine come from?

Stem cells originate from two main sources: adult body tissues and embryos. Scientists are also working on ways to develop stem cells from other cells, using genetic “reprogramming” techniques.

What are issues about stem cells?

Although the creation and use of hESCs have long been the unique focus of stem cell ethics, more current controversies include the creation, for research use, of human embryos, human-animal chimeras, and gametes.

What are the cons of stem cell research?

Cons

• Limitations on ASC ability to differentiate are still uncertain; currently thought to be multi or unipotent.
• Cannot be grown for long periods of time in culture.
• Usually a very small number in each tissue making them difficult to find and purify.

How successful is stem cell research?

Stem cell treatment has achieved positive results in over 45\% of patients, according to one trial. Patients saw improvement in less than 6 months, which compares quite well with back surgery that usually involves very long recovery times.

What is the role of stem cells in veterinary medicine?

Abstract The stem cell field in veterinary medicine continues to evolve rapidly both experimentally and clinically. Stem cells are most commonly used in clinical veterinary medicine in therapeutic applications for the treatment of musculoskeletal injuries in horses and dogs.

What is stem cell therapy in regenerative medicine?

Stem cell therapy in regenerative veterinary medicine is a viable option for the equine as well as the small animal veterinarian, offering a safe and clinically effective tool for the clinician to assist in his/her treatment of the animal with difficult wounds or unresolved musculoskeletal or joint pain.

What is stem cell prolotherapy in horses?

1. Alderman D, Alexander B, Harris G, Astourian P. Stem cell prolotherapy: Background, research and protocols. J Prolother, August 2011. Veterinarians have used autologous adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells to treat tendon and ligament injuries and joint disease in horses on a commercial basis since 2003. 4 This procedure involves:

What are the alternatives to stem cells?

Other sources of stem cells, therefore, had to be explored to continue the research into stem cell—based therapies. One alternative was developed in 2006 by Takahashi and Yamanaka, who reprogrammed adult mouse fibroblasts into pluripotent stem cells by retroviral transduction of four specific genes: OCT4, c-Myc, SOX2, and KLF4.