What Are Stem Cells and Its Importance?
Undifferentiated cells with the capacity to develop into a variety of specialized cell types within the body are known as stem cells. Whether it’s growth, development, or maintenance of tissue and organs, these cells stand out as the best approach. Stem cells have various properties such as self-renewing, dividing, and creating the same copies of themselves which helps in alleviating several medical conditions. Stem cells are increasingly being chosen for clinical trials and medical research due to their exceptional versatility. These cells have the ability to treat a wide range of illnesses, making them the finest in the area of regenerative medicine.
Types of Stem Cells
Stem cells have been used for various researches and regenerative medicine because of their diverse potential. There are several types of stem cells you can find in the human body and some of them are mentioned below:
- Adult Stem Cells: This type of stem cells can be found in the human body where several tissues are present. The other name of adult stem cells are known as somatic cells and useful in tissue repairing and maintenance. These cells are categorized as multipotent because they can only differentiate into a limited number of cell types which are related to their origin tissue.
- Hematopoietic Stem Cells: HSCs are also adult stem cells and are located in the bone marrow. You can say that these cells are responsible for producing blood cells. Red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets are some blood cell types in which HSCs can differentiate.
- Embryonic Stem Cells: ESCs are pluripotent stem cells because they have the ability to differentiate into any cell types in the body. These cells are highly in demand for various research and development of potential therapies. ESCs can be derived from inner cells mass of the blastocyst.
- Mesenchymal Stem Cells: MSCs are one of the adult stem cells and are taken from various tissues of the human body such as bone marrow, adipose tissue, synovial tissue, and umbilical cord blood. They can easily differentiate themselves into various cell types like bone, cartilage, and fat cells because of the regenerative potential.
- Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs): iPSCs are the type of stem cells that can be made through reprogramming adult somatic cells including skin or blood cells. This reprogramming takes place to make these cells similar to embryonic stem cells which helps them to differentiate into any cell type. iPSCs are very valuable for various research purposes without raising the same ethical issues as ESCs.
Where You Can Find Stem Cells?
There are various areas where you can find stem cells within the human body. Below we explain some locations these cells:
- Intestinal Stem Cells: The intestinal epithelium is constantly renewing itself because of these cells, which are located in the intestinal crypts.
- Hematopoietic Stem Cells (HSCs): The bone marrow contains these cells, which are in charge of producing blood cells.
- Epidermal Stem Cells: These cells support the preservation and renewal of the epidermis and are found in distinct skin niches.
- Endothelial Stem Cells: These cells, which are located in the vascular wall, aid in the blood vessel’s regeneration.
- Adipose-Derived Stem Cells (ASCs): Like other mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), these cells have the ability to regenerate and may be extracted from adipose tissues.
- Mesenchymal Stem Cells: MSCs are the cells that can be derived from bone marrow, adipose tissue, synovial tissue, and umbilical cord blood which are adult and neonatal tissues.
- Intervertebral Disc Regeneration Stem Cells: The potential application of several adult stem cells in intervertebral disc regeneration has been investigated. These include bone marrow mesenchymal stromal/stem cells, adipose tissue-derived stem cells, synovial stem cells, muscle-derived stem cells, olfactory neural stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells, hematopoietic stem cells, disc stem cells, and embryonic stem cells.
The uncertainties surrounding stem cell treatments still exists.
- This research may pose unpleasant effects and negative interference with nature and other elements.
- If the cell extraction is done from a donor, there are chances that the cells may be rejected by the patient’s body. It narrows down to the fact that the reaction to the stem cells by the patient’s body is unknown.
- The desire to provide cure for the incurable disease may pave ways for evil plans to mature. Some individuals may use this knowledge for wrong reasons.
- Adult stem cells are available in restricted quantities. Hence, the identification and isolation of stem cells in large numbers for therapeutic application may be difficult.
Despite the limitations and uncertainties, what we do know that thousands of patients worldwide have opted for stem cell therapies, and a majority of people have benefited from it. The best part of the treatment is that it does not have any negative impact on the symptoms or medical condition whatever.
Difference between other stem cells and Umbilical Cord Tissue Stem Cells
There are several aspects that can be kept in mind while differentiating umbilical cord tissue stem cells and other types of stem cells. Some aspects are frequency of colony, success rate of isolation, expansion potential, secretome profile, differentiation capacity. Let’s cover these aspects in detail:
- Frequency of Colony
Out of all the types of stem cells, umbilical cord tissue has the greatest colony frequency.
- Success Rate of Isolation
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can be successfully isolated from umbilical cord tissue 100% of the time, but not from umbilical cord blood 63% of the time.
- Expansion Potential
MSCs which can be derived from umbilical cord blood are the stem cells that can be maintained healthy for a long time and have the highest capacity of proliferation. On the other hand, MSCs which are taken from bone marrow have the lowest proliferation capacity and can stay alive for a short period.
- Scretome Profile
Human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) taken from bone marrow, fat tissue, and umbilical cord perivascular cells (HUCPVCs) have different sets of proteins. These proteins help with nerve growth, guiding nerves, and making new nerve cells. They also protect nerves from damage caused by things like oxidative stress and cell death.
- Differentiation Capacity
Unlike BM-MSCs and adipose tissue-derived MSCs (AT-MSCs), UCB-MSCs do not exhibit the ability to differentiate into adipocytes.
In the end, stem cells are the specialized types of cells which have regenerative potential to restore damaged tissue and replace it with the new one. These cells are located at various tissues such as skin, intestines, and bone marrow. Embryonic, adult, and induced pluripotent stem cells all have their own strengths and weaknesses. Each type has specific abilities and restrictions. Umbilical cord tissue stem cells are better than others in a few ways. They are easier to isolate and form colonies more frequently.
To fully unlock the healing power of stem cells, it is important to grasp these differences. What’s coming up next in stem cell research could completely change how we think about medicine.
