What are pluripotent stem cells?

pluripotent stem cells are undifferentiated cells that can develop into any of the three different types of cells corresponding to three germ layers. The germ layers are groups of cells that develop during embryonic development. These include endoderm, which develops in many internal organs, a mesoderm that develops in the heart, skin and muscles and ectoderm, which evolves in the mammary glands, nerve tissue and hair. Pluripotent stem cells are particularly interesting about modern biological and medical areas due to many types of cells to which they can develop. Scientists believe that they can use the pluripotent nature of these cells to treat various diseases and disorders.

There are two main sources for stem cells. Adult or somatic stem cells come from adults and tend to replicate and develop in response to damage to disease or tissue. It is generally assumed that they can only evolve on the basis of the part of the body in which they exist even if scientists onOn the contrary, some evidence went. Stem cells also come from the development of embryos. Pluripotent stem cells are usually taken from the embryos very early because they are in the early stages of development.

The use of embryonic pluripotent stem cells is a very controversial practice because the embryo is destroyed when the cells are extracted. Many of them consider the moral consequences to be very serious, and some even consider it murder. Others believe that lives that could potentially be rescued by stem cell research are far from the problem of embryo destruction. Both parties often seek political support to put their policies into practice, especially in terms of financing. Stem cell research is expensive; It is often impossible without government funding.

For some time, scientists have believed that only pluripotent stem cells from embryos can be obtained. North newer studies had a certain levelSuccess evoking pluripotent state in adult stem cells taken from simple skin samples. Continued success in the area of ​​induced pluripotence could completely bypass the moral problems of using embryonic stem cells.

The scientific community has great hopes for medical use of stem cells. Because they could be used to produce cell -specific transplantation and organs. Many lives could be saved every year if there was no risk that the immune system would reject donated organs and tissues. Such a risk would not exist if the new organ or tissues were grown from the patient's pluripotent stem cells. Pluripotent stem cells can also be used to research and remedy various genetic problems.