Stem cells and regenerative medicine Flashcards
What does developmental genetics study?
Developmental genetics studies the control of the genetic processes that give rise to an organism from a one cell embryo.
Because many of these pathways that are important in the development of a fetus still persist in adult life, developmental genetics is important as it may help understand some of the pathways in cancer and other diseases.
What are stem cells?
Undifferentiated/progenitor cells that can generate one or more specialised cell types.
What are the three main types of embryonic stem cells?
Totipotent stem cells =
can differentiate into all cell types including the extra embryonic tissue
Pluripotent stem cells = (pluri =plural = many)
can differentiate into the three embryonic germ layers (ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm) but NOT the extra-embryonic tissue
Multipotent stem cells =
can differentiate into a multiple of different cell types
What are some of the different types of adult stem cells?
Haemopoetic stem cells are the most characterised - these give rise to blood cells.
More recently there have also been muscle, neural, liver, pancreatic and bone and cartilage stem cells recognised.
What does stem cell plasticity mean?
Stem cell plasticity is the ability of adult tissue-specific stem cells to switch to new identities.
The term plasticity also means stem cell phenotypic potential, which is broader than phenotypes of differentiated cells in their original tissues.
The ability of adult stem cells to differentiate across different lineages is reliant in genes being turned on/off to express the different functions of the different cell types.
