Stem Cells

Question 1

Stem cells are different from other cells of the body because stem cells can both:

Answer 1

Self-renew: Make copies of themselves
AND
2) Differentiate: Make other types of cells – specialized cells of the body.

Question 2

Why are stem cells so important?

Answer 2

‘Specialized’ or ‘differentiated’ cells play particular roles in the body, e.g. blood cells, nerve cells, muscle cells. Specialized cells cannot divide to make copies of themselves. This makes stem cells very important. The body needs stem cells to replace specialized cells that die, are damaged or get used up

Question 3

Why self-renew AND differentiate?

Answer 3

Self renewal is needed because if the stem cells didn’t copy themselves, you would quickly run out. It is important for the body to maintain a pool of stem cells to use throughout your life.
2) Differentiation is important because specialized cells are used up, damaged or die all the time during your life. Specialized cells cannot divide and make copies of themselves, but they need to be replaced for your body to carry on working. For example, your body needs 100,000 million new blood cells every day. Of course, differentiation is also important for making all the different kinds of cell in the body during development of an embryo from a single fertilized egg.

Question 4

Where are stem cells found?

Answer 4

There are different types of stem cells:
Embryonic stem cells: found in the blastocyst, a very early stage embryo that has about 50 to 100 cells;
Tissue stem cells: found in the tissues of the body (in a fetus, baby, child or adult).

Question 5

Where we find them (Embryonic stem (ES) cells:)

Answer 5

inside blastocyst

Question 6

Where we find them (Embryonic stem (ES) cells:)

Answer 6

inside blastocyst

Question 7

What they can do (Embryonic stem (ES) cells:)

Answer 7

PLURIPOTENT
Embryonic stem cells are exciting because they can make all the different types of cell in the body – scientists say these cells are pluripotent.

Question 8

2) Tissue stem cells- where can we find them

Answer 8

skin
brain 
breast
intestines
gut
bone marrow
muscle
testicels
surface of the eye

Question 9

Tissue stem cells:

What they can do

Answer 9

Tissue stem cells can often make several kinds of specialized cell, but they are more limited than embryonic stem cells. Tissue stem cells can ONLY make the kinds of cell found in the tissue they belong to. So, blood stem cells can only make the different kinds of cell found in the blood. Brain stem cells can only make different types of brain cell. Muscle stem cells can only make muscle cells. And so forth.