Cards (14)

  • What are cells in early development of an embryo called?
    Stem cells
  • What are stem cells?
    Undifferentiated cells that can become any cell
  • What does differentiated mean?
    A cell which hasn't become specialised yet
  • Where are stem cells obtained?
    In embryos and adult bone marrow
  • What happens if cells are removed from an embryo?
    They will differentiate into any cell type called embryonic stem cells
  • What can adult stem cells differentiate into?
    Related cell types only, e.g bone marrow cells can differentiate into blood cells and immune system cells but not any others
  • How are stem cells used?
    Treat medical conditions and disease
  • What medical conditions may use stem cell transplants?
    Type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord/ brain injury
  • What is the best time to obtain embryonic stem cells?
    5 day old embryo- embryonic stem cells are hard to obtain
  • When are bone marrow transplants carried out?
    In cases of blood cancer, e.g leukaemia or when blood cells have been destroyed by e.g chemotherapy
  • What are the benefits of the use of stem cells?
    No rejection, no need to find a donor, no need for tissue typing
  • What are some clinical issues with using stem cells?
    No guarantee of success, difficult to find a suitable donor, difficult to obtain, risk of contamination of cells
  • What are some ethical issues with stem cells?
    A source of embryonic stem cells is unused embryos (from IVF), therapeutic cloning
  • What is therapeutic cloning?
    Using technology for medical purposes