Shenora Dixon
Professor Greenfield
English 120/14FY
Different Types of Stem Cells and Their Usage
The different types of stem cells will produce greater benefits.
“Stem cells have the potential to develop into many different cell types in the body”
Stem cells can be classified into three broad categories, based on their ability to differentiate. Totipotent stem cells are found only in early embryos. Each cell can form a complete organism (e.g., identical twins). Pluripotent stem cells exist in the undifferentiated inner cell mass of the blastocyst and can form any of the over 200 different cell types found in the body. Multipotent stem cells are derived from fetal tissue, cord blood and adult stem cells. Although their ability to differentiate is more limited than pluripotent stem cells, they already have a track record of success in cell-based therapies.
Totipotent stem cells are one of the most important stem cells types because they have the potential to develop into any cell found in the human body. In human development, the egg cell in a woman and the sperm cell from a man fuse together to form a single cell called the zygote. The zygote divides numerous times and forms cells that are the precursors to the trillions of cells that will eventually constitute the human body. Totipotent cells can develop into any cell type, which makes them ideal for cell and gene therapies as well as tissue engineering for transplants and replacement of diseased cells. This means that the therapeutic value of totipotent stem cells is big.
Pluripotent stem cells are often termed 'true' stem cells because they have the potential to differentiate into almost any cell in the body. This means that under the right circumstances, a stem cell that is isolated from an embryo can produce almost all of the cells in the body. After this embryonic development stage is over, the stem cells no longer have this unlimited potential to develop into all cell types. Their...