What is embryonic stem cells?

Embryonic stem cells. These stem cells come from embryos that are three to five days old. At this stage, an embryo is called a blastocyst and has about 150 cells. These are pluripotent (ploo-RIP-uh-tunt) stem cells, meaning they can divide into more stem cells or can become any type of cell in the body.

How are stem cells used to treat brain damage?

Recent studies have found that exogenous stem cells can migrate to damaged brain tissue, then participate in the repair of damaged brain tissue by further differentiation to replace damaged cells, while releasing anti-inflammatory factors and growth factors, thereby significantly improving neurological function.

How do embryonic stem cells repair damaged tissue?

A special process helps isolate the needed cells by using a centrifuge. Those cells are then delivered to the area of injury – such as an arthritic knee – through ultrasound guidance. The stem cells activate to create healthy new tissue to replace the damaged bone, cartilage, ligament, tendon or muscle.

What are embryonic stem cells used to treat?

During an embryonic stem cell injection procedure, stem cells are first developed into specific adult cell types. These matured cells are then used to restore tissue that is damaged due to injury or disease. This type of stem cell injection treatment could be utilized to: Produce insulin to treat patients with diabetes.

How are embryonic stem cells extracted?

Embryonic stem cells are usually harvested shortly after fertilization (within 4-5 days) by transferring the inner cell mass of the blastocyst into a cell culture medium, so that the cells can be multiplied in a laboratory.

Can stem cells repair dead brain cells?

Recent studies suggest that adult neural stem/progenitor cells residing in the neurogenic regions in the adult mammalian brain may play regenerative and reparative roles in response to CNS injuries or diseases. Alternatively, cell transplantation is a potential strategy to repair and regenerate the injured brain.

Can stem cells regenerate brain cells?

Stem cells are part of the body’s repair system. They have the potential to replace specialized cells—such as muscle cells, blood cells, and brain cells—that have been damaged by injury or disease.

Why are embryonic stem cells 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.

Why are embryonic stem cells favored in the stem cell industry?

Endorsement. Embryonic stem cells have the potential to grow indefinitely in a laboratory environment and can differentiate into almost all types of bodily tissue. This makes embryonic stem cells a prospect for cellular therapies to treat a wide range of diseases.

How can we solve the problem of embryonic stem cell differentiation?

A possible solution to this problem lies in xenografts (i.e., transplantation of tissues of animal origin); however, for several reasons (ethical, immunological, infectious diseases), this approach has a limited usefulness. A way out of this problem would be the differentiation of embryonic stem (ES) cells into specific cell types and tissues.

What is human embryonic stem (HES)?

Isolated 4 years ago from preimplantation embryos by Thomson et al. ( 1 ), human embryonic stem (hES) cells have the capacity to differentiate into virtually all of the cell types building our body.

What can stem cells be used to treat?

These cells therefore hold the promise of forming any desired tissue in culture that could be used to treat a wide variety of conditions where age, disease, or trauma has led to tissue damage or dysfunction.

What is the history of embryonic stem cell research in primates?

The first nonhuman primate embryonic stem cells were described in 1995, maintained in culture for more than a year, while retaining their pluripotency, self-renewing capacity, and their normal karyotype ( 22 ).