GN 2.5.2

Question 1

What are CB-SCs?

Answer 1

Cord blood stem cells - can be taken at time of birth, may be useful in therapeutic treatments later in life

Question 2

In regards to cell lineage, technology has given us the ability to induce stem cell production. Describe this reverse process.

Answer 2

Differentiated cells -> progenitors/precursor cells -> Stem cells

Question 3

How many embryos were donated to research from a pool of how many from embryos at embryo banks?

Answer 3

11,000 excess embryos of 400,000 frozen embryos

Question 4

What are some promising purposes of stem cell research?

Answer 4

ID drug targets and test potential therapeutics, toxic testing, tissue for transplantation, study cell differentiation

Question 5

Without the presence of extra-embryonic cells, what do ES cells lack?

Answer 5

They lack the ability to form a body plan

Question 6

What are some functions of adult stem cells?

Answer 6

Respond to demands of growth or repair, proper tissue organization that is influenced by molecular restraints

Question 7

Describe the process of somatic cell nuclear transfer.

Answer 7

The nucleus of a stem cell is removed. Then, a somatic cell with its nucleus is fused into the stem cell. Then, the cell stimulated into the division process. Then, the inner cell mass of the blastocyst is removed to create a culture of pluripotent embryonic stem cells.

Question 8

What type of stem cell is known to migrate to different tissues then become different types of stem cells?

Answer 8

HSCs

Question 9

What are some of the signaling pathways that influence the way a HSCs respond to its environment?

Answer 9

Notch, Wnt, Opn Ang-1

Question 10

From where are embryonic stem cells derived?

Answer 10

5 day-old human embryos created during IVF before specialized tissues of the body begin to form. These can then be grown laterally in the primitive embryonic state indefinitely in culture.

Question 11

At this point in time, what are some of the possible treatment usages of ES cells in mouse models?

Answer 11

Severe immune deficiency, diabetes, parkinson’s dz, spinal injury, demyelenation, MI

Question 12

What type of signals must be present to cause ES cells to uniformly differentiate into mature stem cells?

Answer 12

Commitment signals and specific signals for growth and differentiation

Question 13

What newer technology might allow us to sidestep or avoid some of the ethical implications of SCNT?

Answer 13

iPSC

Question 14

When ES cells are injected subdermally into mice, what happens?

Answer 14

Teratoma

Question 15

What are some of the challenges of regenerative medicine and transplantation therapy?

Answer 15

Prod of req’d cell type in sufficient #s and pure form, what cell to transplant, delivery and proper integration, probs of tissue/immune rejection, immunogenic effects of grafts

Question 16

What is Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer?

Answer 16

Combines cloning methods w/ embryonic stem cell tech to produce cells which are custom made for patient.

Question 17

Describe some of the advantage/disadvantages of using mature or early stem cells.

Answer 17

Insert chart.

Question 18

Define the three types of developmental capacity (toti-, pluri-, and multipotency) and provide examples of each?

Answer 18

Totipotency: ability of cell to give rise to all cells of an organism, embryonic and extraembryonic tissue. Ex: zygote Pluripotency: ability of cell to give rise to all cells of embryo and subsequently adult tissue Ex: embryonic stem cells Mulitipotency: ability of cell to give rise to different cell types of a given lineage. Ex: adult stem cells

Question 19

What is the hierarchy of stem cells?

Answer 19

Totipotent -> pluripotent -> multipotent -> unipotent

Question 20

Think of a medical condition that would benefit from SCNT treatments.

Answer 20

Type I DM

Question 21

From which blastocyst cell mass are the ES Cells derived?

Answer 21

Inner cell mass, then grown as cultured pluripotent stem cells (Image)