L5 - Stem Cells

• Stem cells are undifferentiated cells within an organism. They can produce other stem cells that can then differentiate into many different types of cells.
• Embryos

  After fertilisation, zygotes group together to form an embryo, which contains embryonic stem cells.

  These cells are able to differentiate into any specialised cell.
• Adult Bone Marrow

  When you become an adult, you no longer have any more stem cells that can differentiate into anything.

  The only stem cells left are found in bone marrow.

  These cells can only differentiate into different types of blood cells.
• Human stem cells can be used to help treat diseases like diabetes and paralysis.
• Embryos produced by therapeutic cloning have the same genes as the patient.  This means stem cells from the embryo are not rejected by the patient’s body. This is why they can be used for medical treatments.
• The risks of using stem cells are the transfer of viral infections.
• By using embryonic stem cells, you would kill the embryo, this means that some people have objections to stem cell use for ethical and religious reasons.
• By using stem cells we can replace faulty cells with working cells to treat conditions.
• Adult stem cells can only differentiate into blood cells, meaning that the treatment is limited.
• Most types of plant cells can differentiate throughout their life cycle.

  Undifferentiated stem cells in plants are grouped together in structures called meristems.