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On August 2006, an announcement was made stating that researchers have created embryonic
stem-cells without destroying human embryos should have been praised as a
scientific breakthrough. But not everyone was pleased with the news. President
Bush, who recently vetoed a bill to fund stem-cell research, said his ethical
concerns about the procedures have not been assuaged. The president says he
would be comfortable when embryos aren't used at all.
Nevertheless, the development is a
commendable advancement that puts scientists closer to finding a cure to
diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
The new method takes an embryonic stem cell
at an early stage of development and removes a single cell. This leaves a complete
embryo able to fully develop. The single extracted cell is then coaxed into
generating an embryonic stem-cell line.
The important new point is
this: The embryonic stem-cells are created, not destroyed. The process is not
nearly as efficient as other methods, but scientists are responding to the
dead-end caused by President Bush's veto last month. The veto prevents the use
of federal dollars, which many universities depend on, for this promising line
of research.
Surveys show that despite the moral concerns,
most Americans support stem-cell research. The new developments should ease the
ethical concerns. The technique is laudable not only for its potential to cure
diseases, but also for the possibility that it has created an avenue of
compromise. Ideally, scientists focus their work exclusively on their research.
In this case, that work has created the potential for a political compromise.
(Source: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/15378261.htm)
What are Stem Cells?
Stem Cells are "blank" cells that
have the potential to develop into any type of cell in the body -- nerve cells,
heart cells, kidney cells. Scientists are trying to harvest the cells before
they have differentiated, then coax them into becoming certain types. If they
could grow cardiac cells, for instance, scientists one day might be able to
replace damaged heart tissue in someone who has had a heart attack. By growing
nerve cells they might be able to repair brain cells damaged by Alzheimer's or
Parkinson's, or replace injured spinal cord cells in a paraplegic. Researchers
say the field is promising, though no cures have been developed from stem cell
research. (Source: CNN Health)
Stem cells have the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types
in the body. Serving as a sort of repair system for the body, they can
theoretically divide without limit to replenish other cells as long as the
person or animal is still alive. When a stem cell divides, each new cell has
the potential to either remain a stem cell or become another type of cell with
a more specialized function, such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell, or a
brain cell. What are the similarities and differences between embryonic and adult
stem cells?
Human
embryonic and adult stem cells
each have advantages and disadvantages regarding potential use for cell-based regenerative therapies.
Of course, adult and embryonic stem cells differ in the number and type of
differentiated cells types they can become. Embryonic stem cells
can become all cell types of the body because they are pluripotent. Adult
stem cells are generally limited to differentiating into different cell types
of their tissue of origin. However, some evidence suggests that adult stem cell
plasticity may
exist, increasing the number of cell types a given adult stem cell can become.
Large numbers of embryonic stem cells can be
relatively easily grown in culture, while adult stem cells are rare in mature
tissues and methods for expanding their numbers in cell culture have
not yet been worked out. This is an important distinction, as large numbers of
cells are needed for stem cell replacement therapies.
A potential advantage of using stem cells
from an adult is that the patient's own cells could be expanded in culture and
then reintroduced into the patient. The use of the patient's own adult stem
cells would mean that the cells would not be rejected by the immune system.
This represents a significant advantage as immune rejection is a difficult
problem that can only be circumvented with immunosuppressive drugs.
Embryonic stem cells from a donor introduced
into a patient could cause transplant rejection. However, whether the recipient
would reject donor embryonic stem cells has not been determined in human
experiments. (Source:
The national Institutes of Health)
For more information:
http://news.yahoo.com/fc/Science/Stem_Cell_Research/
http://www.stemlife.com/httpdocs/index.html
- Stemlife: A stem cell banking provider in Malaysia.
http://stemlife1.blogspot.com/
- More information on Stemlife and Stem Cells.
http://www.cordlife.com/
- CordLife: Another stem cell banking provider in Singapore.
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