Stem cells

The cells that  have the capability to give rise to any kind of other cells. It have  totipotent nature that means as in the tissue culture a single explant is able to give rise a new plant the stem cells  can differentiated into other cells and the classification includes -

• Totipotent - the ability to differentiate into all possible cell types.
• Pluripotent - the ability to differentiate into almost all cell types. (include embryonic stem cells and cells that are derived from the mesoderm, endoderm, and ectoderm germ layers that are formed in the beginning stages of embryonic stem cell differentiation.)
• Multipotent - the ability to differentiate into a closely related family of cells.( include hematopoietic (adult) stem cells that can become red and white blood cells or platelets.)
• Oligopotent - the ability to differentiate into a few cells. Examples include (adult) lymphoid or myeloid stem cells.
• Unipotent - the ability to only produce cells of their own type, but have the property of self-renewal required to be labeled a stem cell. Examples include (adult) muscle stem cells.

Stem cells can be preserved from the birth time of a baby. Human stem cells are currently being used to test new drugs. New medications are tested for safety on differentiated cells generated from human pluripotent cell lines. 

It can be adult stem cell or embryonic stem cell.

Embryonic stem cells can become all cell types of the body because they are pluripotent. Adult stem cells are thought to be limited to differentiating into different cell types of their tissue of origin.

Embryonic stem cells can be grown relatively easily in culture. Adult stem cells are rare in mature tissues, so isolating these cells from an adult tissue is challenging, and methods to expand 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. 



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