The idea of a miracle cure and bodies healing themselves holds a particular fascination. Stem cell research brings regenerative medicine a step closer, but many of the ideas and concepts remain controversial. So what are stem cells, and why are they so important?
Stem cells are special human cells that are able to develop into many different cell types by dividing, ranging from muscle cells to brain cells. In some cases, they are capable of fixing damaged tissues and replace damaged cells. When a stem cell divides, the new cells may either become another stem cell or a specific cell, such as a blood cell, a brain cell, or a muscle cell. Scientists call a stem cell an undifferentiated cell because it can become any cell. In contrast, a blood cell, for example, is a ‘differentiated’ cell, because it is already a specific kind of cell.
Stem cells play a massive role in regeneration due to their rapidly dividing properties to easily replace dead cells. Researchers believe that stem cell-based therapies may one day be used to treat serious illnesses such as paralysis and Alzheimer disease.
Hematopoietic stem cells are those stem cells that give rise to different kinds of blood cells (red blood cells, white blood cells, etc.). They are extremely vital in cases of treating degenerative diseases such as leukaemia. These cells are used in procedures such as bone marrow transplants. This helps people with cancer make new blood cells after their own hematopoietic stem cells have been killed by radiation therapy and chemotherapy.
With these fascinating and exceptional advantages of stem cells there also quite a few disadvantages. Stem cells need much more study before their use can be expanded. Scientists must first learn more about how embryonic stem cells develop which will help them understand how to control the type of cells created from them. However, several ethical concerns revolve around this as the embryonic cells must be extracted from an embryo during its developmental stage. Another challenge is that the embryonic stem cells available today are likely to be rejected by the body. And some people find it morally troubling to use stem cells that come from embryos.
All in all stem cells could be extremely advantageous in treated various degenerative diseases but there are numerous ethical concerns with using stem cells in today day and age, making the progression in stem cell research relatively slow and delayed.
Writer: Tiana Bijlani
21/07/2020
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