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July 06, 2005

A Primer On Stem Cells

You may know that stem cells are the building blocks of the human body, but do you know the difference between pluripotent and multipotent cells? How about cord blood stem cells versus blastocyst cells? What’s somatic cell nuclear transfer all about, anyway? From time to time the IP Blawg will bring you a brief overview of key stem cell terminology to aid your comprehension of the workings of stem cells, beginning with today’s explanation of how pluripotent and multipotent stem cells differ from one another.

According to dictionary.com, pluripotent means “not fixed as to potential development,” and as it relates to stem cells, it is a stem cell that can differentiate to become any of the 220 types of cells in the body (with a few exceptions).  Pluripotent stem cells are found in embryonic stem cells, and an embryo is a mass of cells in the earliest stages of human development.  When an embryo has grown for 3 – 5 days and becomes a blastocyst, it contains pluripotent stem cells.  Importantly, in addition to their ability to become any cell, these embryonic stem cells have an unlimited ability to self-renew.

In contrast to pluripotent stem cells, multipotent stem cells can develop into several different types of cells (but not as many as embryonic stem cells), and they have a more limited ability than embryonic stem cells to self-renew.  These multipotent stem cells come from mature tissue (hence the description of them as “adult stem cells”) including blood, bone marrow, and organs such as the heart and lungs.  While scientists once believed that adult stem cells could only generate the same type of tissue from which they originated, new research suggests that adult stem cells may have the potential to generate other types of cells, as well.  This is known as transdifferentiation or plasticity. 

Enough for now.  Stay tuned for periodic additions to your stem cell lexicography!

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