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Argumentative Essay On Stem Cells

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Possibly one of the most exciting prospects in the field of medical research currently is the potential of using stem cells as a novel therapy for a vast range of human diseases. This prospect rests on the fundamental capability of stem cells to differentiate into a huge variety of healthy functioning adult cells, many of which can be specialized, thus providing a healthy set of cells to replace those that have been damaged or lost through degenerative diseases. Therefore, essentially any disease that causes destruction of both tissues and cells can theoretically use stem cells as a viable treatment. This can include Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, spinal cord and heart diseases, cancer and even certain eye disorders (1).
One area that is currently …show more content…

Therefore as there is an increasing shortage of available transplant organs, stem cell research is actively seeking out alternative strategies designed to regenerate heart tissue. As ischaemic injury results in continuing loss of cardiomyocytes in the heart, transplantation of cardiomyogenic stem cells is at the forefront of current research. Cardiomyocytes are the cells that compose cardiac muscle and are extremely important in heart contraction. They can be generated from a number of different stem cells including both somatic stem cells such as mesenchymal cells and skeletal myoblasts, and pluripotent stem cells such as embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent cells …show more content…

It is believed today that the adult heart holds primitive cells that are able to restore the main cell lineages of the heart; cardiomyocytes, endothelial cells and vascular smooth muscle. CS/PCs are classified within this group of cells due to their multipotency, their ability to self-renew and their potential to proliferate. Although there are very little CS/PCs in healthy hearts, the amount present increases after cardiac injury (5). These cells can then be isolated and attained from biopsy specimens, cultured and expanded in vitro and thus are able to produce an adequate number of cells necessary for autologous transplantation into the patient

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