The Function of Stem Cells

Under particular experimental or physiological conditions, we can induce them to transform into specialized organ or tissue cells serving specific functions. For example, within some human organs like bone marrow or gut, these cells divide regularly and help repair and replace damaged or worn-out tissues. However, in some organs like the heart and pancreas, they only reproduce under specific conditions.

Why are Stem Cells Important?

Several reasons make stem cells critically important for humans.

• They produce the whole organism’s body in the 3 to 5 days old human embryo, including specialized organs and tissues like lungs, eggs, sperm, heart, etc.
• In adults, stem cells generate tissues such as muscle, brain, and bone marrow
• Some individual stem cells produce cells replacing the damaged, injured, or diseased parts of organs and tissues in the body.

Due to the unique regenerative capabilities of stem cells, they offer opportunities to treat various diseases. This ground-breaking technique is called reparative or regenerative medicine.

Stem Cells Types

A range of stem cells plays a critical role in the repair, regeneration, and reproduction of body tissues and organs.

• Totipotent embryonic stem cells: can generate all types of cells in the body as well as embryonic tissue.
• Pluripotent embryonic stem cells: can produce all types of cells in the body.
• Multipotent stem cells: can reproduce all types of cells within a particular organ or tissue.
• Hematopoietic Stem Cells (HSC): have the potential to produce all blood cells types.
• Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSC): multipotent stem cells that have the capability to reproduce into multiple cell types such as muscle cells, bone, and cartilage cells.
• Neural Stem Cells (NSC): can produce offspring cells that develop into glial cells and neurons.
• Skin Stem Cells (SSC): these are present in the skin of adults having a capability to self-renew and take a specific form in different skin layers. They remain active throughout your life, playing a vital part in skin repair and renewal following injury or damage.
• Endothelial Stem Cell (ESC): generates endothelial cells (ECs), creating a thin inner lining of lymphatic and blood vessels.

What Are the Unique Properties of Stem Cells?

Stem Cells have distinct properties, which make them different from other cells in the human body. However, all stem cells have three properties in general, including the following:

• Ability to renew and divide themselves for a long time
• Unspecialized cells
• Can produce specialized types of cells in the body

Unlike other muscle, nerve, or blood cells, stem cells can replicate or proliferate many times. An initial stem cells population can generate millions of cells when proliferated in the laboratory for many months. If the induced cells remain unspecialized like their parent cells, they can self-renew for the long term.

Understanding Stem Cell Long-Term Self-Renewal Properties

Our focus on understanding the two long-term self-renewal properties of stem cells:

• The proliferation of embryonic stem cells with differentiation in a laboratory
• Factors that regulate stem self proliferation and self-renewal in the living organisms

Discovering the mechanism behind these properties enables us to grow non-embryonic and embryonic stem cells more quickly and efficiently in our laboratories.

The specific conditions and factors that enable stem cells to stay unspecialized are the focus of our interest. Through years of trial and error, we are able to learn the mechanism to generate and maintain these cells within a laboratory with their spontaneous differentiation into specific types of cells.

Although stem cells are not specialized, they can generate specialized cells through a process of differentiation. In this process, stem cell passes through many stages transforming into a more specialized cell at every step.

Scientists have started to comprehend the signals within and outside stem cells responsible for triggering each step in the differentiation process. The cell genes control internal signals while different factors generate external signals, including chemical secretions from other cells, specific molecules in the microenvironment, and having physical contact with surrounding cells.

Adult stem cells typically generate tissue cell types in which they live. For instance, a stem cell that forms blood in the bone marrow usually produces different blood cells. So this stem cell cannot make other tissue cells like nerve cells.

During the past several years, experiments show that one type of stem cells in a tissue may be capable of producing completely different cell types in other tissue. However, this is still a controversial area, and there is a need for further research and experimentation to understand the full potential of stem cells for future treatments.

Disclaimer:

JUWELIS corporate responsibility and guiding principles clarify to always act in compliance with the conditions and legal positions of the respective national law.

The information on this site is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. All content, including text, graphics, images and information, contained on or available through this web site is for general information purposes only. JUWELIS makes no representation and assumes no responsibility for the accuracy of information contained on or available through this web site, and such information is subject to change without notice. You are encouraged to confirm any information obtained from or through this web site with other sources and review all information regarding any medical condition or treatment with your physician. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking medical treatment because of something you have read on or accessed through this web site.

JUWELIS does not recommend, endorse or make any representation about the efficacy, appropriateness or suitability of any specific tests, products, procedures, treatments, services, opinions, health care providers or other information that may be contained on or available through this web site. JUWELIS is not responsible nor liable for any advice, course of treatment, diagnosis or any other information, services or products that you obtain trough this website.