stem cell research assignment
Define, identify types, and note main ethical issues involved: Define Stem cells are cells that are capable of dividing and renewing themselves for long periods; they are unspecialized; and they can give rise to specialized cell types. ... “Resident” stem cells in organs can renew themselves continuously to replace cells lost due to injury and disease. Identify types – Two types – Human embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells Embryonic stem cells are undifferentiated—meaning that they aren’t a specialized cell type—and they are harvested from human embryos. They have the potential to become a wide variety of specialized cell types. An adult stem cell is an undifferentiated cell found among differentiated cells in a tissue or organ, can renew itself, and can differentiate to yield the major specialized cell types of the tissue or organ. ... Human embryonic stem cells have greater developmental potential than adult stem cells. This means that embryonic stem cells are pluripotent (means that it is able to give rise to cells found in all tissues of the embryo except for germ cells), while adult stem cells are merely multipotent--restricted to specific subpopulations of cell types.