Stem Cells

Question 1

What could stem cells potentially be used to do?

Answer 1

• Help treat diseases and disorders

- Repair damage to various tissues

Question 2

What are the 3 sources of stem cells?

Answer 2

• Embryos
• Blood from the umbilical cord
• Adult stem cells from bone marrow

Question 3

What are embryonic stem cells?

Answer 3

Completely unspecialised and can be used to form any cell type

Question 4

When using embryonic stem cells, what needs to be taken into consideration?

Answer 4

Ethical decisions

Question 5

What is the first step of therapeutic cloning?

Answer 5

• The nucleus is removed from an egg cell and replaced with a nucleus from one of the patient’s cells

Question 6

What is the second step of therapeutic cloning?

Answer 6

• The egg cell is then stimulated so that it starts to divide (as if it were a zygote)

Question 7

What is the third step of therapeutic cloning?

Answer 7

• At the 8 cell stage, cells can be removed as they’re still unspecialised

Question 8

What will adult stem cells produce?

Answer 8

They will only produce cells of a certain type

Question 9

What is the advantage of using adult stem cells?

Answer 9

They can be used for growing replacement tissue and can be taken from the patient, so the patient’s immune system will not reject the transplant

Question 10

Where can replacement tissue be grown?

Answer 10

In a laboratory or sometimes on a ‘host animal’ is used to maintain a blood supply during growth.