Stem Cells- Charlotte

Stem Cells

Figure 1: Diagram showing the use of stem cells in different tissues of
the human body

--> What are stem cells?

A stem cell is an immature cell that can become specialized into different types of cells in the body (source). There are two known basic types of stem cells: adult stem cells and embryonic stem cells. 
Embryonic stem cells are made when a newly fertilized egg begins to divide. This specific type of stem cells is able to grow into any type of cell found in the body. Adult stem cells divide regularly to create new specialized cells to replace other lost or dead cells. They have predetermined types of cells that they can generate and are usually present in already developed tissues including brain, blood, muscle, skin and bone tissues. 

--> Therapeutic potential of stem cell

• Testing new drugs for effectiveness and safety: Some types of stem cells can be used for testing new drugs instead of testing them directly on a person. To ensure their safety and effectiveness, specific cells that the disease affects have to be produced. This enables us to stop testing on animals, preventing the sacrifice of animals for drug testing and allowing us to generalize the results to humans. Additionally, testing new drugs directly on stem cells can save time and money.

• Increasing our understanding of how diseases occur: Scientists can observe stem cells maturing into cells in bones, heart muscle, nerves, and various other organs and tissues to understand how diseases develop. For example in Parkinson's disease, the reason why neurons in the brain die remains unknown. It is very hard for scientists to have access to neurons from a Parkinson's disease patient's brain, so they are trying to make neurons directly from stem cells to investigate the causes of the disease. (source)

Figure 2- Diagram showing how haematopoietic stem cells
 can be used to treat  patient with Leukemia

• Creating healthy cells to replace damaged or lost cells and treat diseases: To treat heart failure, scientists could potentially stimulate stem cells to differentiate into heart cells and inject them into a patient's heart. Inside the heart, the new cells could grow and replace damaged or dead tissue cells. Scientists have not yet been able to stimulate stem cells to differentiate into heart cells but they have tested this concept in mice with damaged hearts. (source) The mice showed improvement in heart function and blood flow, proving that stem cells have a great potential to treat heart conditions if scientists develop a system to differentiate stem cells. As we can see in Figure 2, stem cells could potentially treat multiple other diseases that involve tissue and cellular destruction such as leukemia, Parkinson's disease, Diabetes, spinal chord injuries and retinal diseases. (source)

--> Ethical considerations of stem cell therapy

Figure 3- Diagram showing the process of making embryonic stem cells

Although stem cells have a lot of potential, they bring up a significant ethical issue that causes people to debate over whether stem cell research should continue. To obtain embryonic stem cells, which are said to have more potential due to the fact that they can become all types of cell in the body, the early embryo must be destroyed (see Figure 3). This means that a potential human life is destroyed, raising the argument of whether the embryo should already be considered a person or a potential person. On the other hand, if stem cell research continues, scientists could find cures to deadly diseases and a huge number of people suffering from these diseases could be treated. "I understand that many have ethical and moral reservations about stem cell research, but for the same reason I describe myself as pro-life, I embrace embryonic stem cell research because I believe being pro-life is not only caring for the unborn but also caring for the living."“ (U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah)