Before going further into the article, let me give you some information about stem cells. Stem cells are found in all multi-cellular organisms and are categorized as undifferentiated cells-meaning that they have the potential to develop into various specialized cells in the body during early development of an organism. Stem cells have the capacity to differentiate into specialized cells/organs such as kidney, liver, lungs, heart etc- and hence are of primary importance to human beings.
Stem cells have two special properties- firstly; they are unspecialized cells, having the ability to renew themselves through cell division and secondly, under certain experimental conditions they can be induced to become tissue or organ specific cells with specialized functions. Stem cells are basically of two types- embryonic stem cells or adult stem cells. The embryonic stem cells are derived from the early morula stage embryos or the inner cell mass of the blastocyst. On the other hand, the adult stem cells are undifferentiated stem cells that are found among differentiated tissues/organs and multiply be cell division to repair/renew the tissues in which they are
present.
Adult Stem cells are found in various organs such as brain, bone marrow, peripheral blood, blood vessels, heart, gut, skin, teeth, skeletal muscle, liver etc. The research on adult stem cells has aggravated lots of excitement and debate amongst the scientists all over the world. Scientists have found out that lots of adult stem cells are present in structured tissues and organs- which is an indication of the fact that these cells can be used for transplants or can be induced to grow into specialized cells. However, one of the major drawbacks in using adult stem cells is that they are often restricted to certain types of lineages-meaning that the adult stem cell of a particular lineage will not be able to divide into different type of lineage!
In spite of the above drawback, the adult stem cells have been used for several years for successfully treating leukemia and related bone/blood cancers. The use of adult stem cells has not been considered controversial so far because unlike the embryonic stem cells (which are derived from the embryo), they are derived form the adult organs-and it does not require the destruction of the embryo.
The first successful example of using adult stem cells for transplant was carried by Paolo Macchiarini, at the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, on a Columbian adult female whose trachea had been distorted due to tuberculosis. The entire procedure of carrying out the transplant occurred normally and the tissue exhibited no signs of rejection, even after months of transplant.
Adult stem cells are very valuable and a lot of research is still going on to find out the other applications or uses of these cells. Adult stem cells have numerous potential and if the information is decoded wisely, then soon we will have a world free of diseases!