Stem cell research aims to develop new life-saving treatments, and cannot be used to develop a human being. Is stem cell research the same as cloning? If a cluster of these cells was transferred to a uterus, they would fail to implant, and would fail to develop into a fetus. These cells are not the equivalent of an intact embryo. If a cluster of these cells was transferred to a woman, could a pregnancy result? For instance, screening drugs by testing them on cultured human embryonic stem cells could help reduce the risk of drug-related birth defects. A thorough knowledge of normal development could ultimately allow the prevention or treatment of abnormal human development. Understanding the events that occur at the first stages of development has potential clinical significance for preventing or treating birth defects, infertility and pregnancy loss. Human embryonic stem cells will offer insights into developmental events that cannot be studied directly in humans in utero or fully understood through the use of animal models. The earliest stages of human development have been difficult or impossible to study. What can these cells tell us about development? Ramped up stem cell technology would permit the rapid screening of hundreds of thousands of chemicals that must now be tested through much more time-consuming processes. Treating specific cell types with chemicals and measuring their response offers a short-cut to sort out chemicals that can be used to treat the diseases that involve those specific cell types. The ability to grow pure populations of specific cell types offers a proving ground for chemical compounds that may have medical importance. The first potential applications of human embryonic stem cell technology may be in the area of drug discovery. Similarly, failing hearts and other organs, in theory, could be shored up by injecting healthy cells to replace damaged or diseased cells.Īre there other potential uses for these cells? Replacing faulty cells with healthy ones offers hope of lifelong treatment. For example, diseases like juvenile onset diabetes mellitus and Parkinson’s disease occur because of defects in one of just a few cells types. The ability to grow human tissue of all kinds opens the door to treating a range of cell-based diseases and to growing medically important tissues that can be used for transplantation purposes. The cell lines, derived from preimplantation stage embryos, were capable of prolonged, undifferentiated proliferation in culture and yet maintained the ability to develop into a variety of specific cell types, including neural, gut, muscle, bone and cartilage cells. Using 14 blastocysts obtained from donated, surplus embryos produced by in vitro fertilization, the Wisconsin group established five independent cell lines. Scientists have been attempting to isolate and culture human embryonic stem cells for more than a decade. What, precisely, has the UW team accomplished? In theory, if stem cells can be grown and their development directed in culture, it would be possible to grow cells of medical importance such as bone marrow, neural tissue or muscle. The research protocols were reviewed and approved by a UW–Madison Institutional Review Board, a panel of scientists and medical ethicists who oversee such work.Įmbryonic stem cells are of great interest to medicine and science because of their ability to develop into virtually any other cell made by the human body. In virtually every in vitro fertilization clinic in the world, surplus embryos are discarded if they are not donated to help other infertile couples or for research. They were donated specially for this project with the informed consent of donors. These embryos were produced for clinical purposes, but were no longer wanted for implantation by the couples who donated them. Human embryonic stem cells are derived from in vitro fertilized embryos less than a week old. Because undifferentiated embryonic stem cells can proliferate indefinitely in culture, they could potentially provide an unlimited source of specific, clinically important adult cells such as bone, muscle, liver or blood cells. However, they have the ability to form any adult cell. All embryonic stem cells are undifferentiated cells that are unlike any specific adult cell.
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