Introduction (Antedote)
Six months after surviving a stroke, Sonia Olea wanted to die. Her right leg was weak, her right arm useless. She had trouble speaking and even small tasks were challenging. Just making a phone call was impossible. One morning, she woke up with her arm pinned in an awkward, painful position. After finally repositioning it, she wanted to call her fiancé, but knew she could not get the words out. That’s when it hit her, she was having a stroke. Slowly, Sonia fought back from her complications from the stroke and wanted to find a way to recover. One year later, Sonia got a call from Stanford University asking if she would like to participate in a stem cell-based clinical trial. The early phase clinical trial tested the safety of transplanting bone marrow stem cells into the brain. Sonia had brain surgery to transplant the bone marrow stem cells into her brain to revive the impaired neurons. Although they could not help the previously dead neurons. Sonia Olea can now use her leg 95% of the way, use her right arm, and her speech is improved. Sonia was almost at the point of giving up when she received a call that potentially saved her life. Although stem cell research is a controversial topic, the study of adult stem cells and embryonic stem cells will prove to be necessary in advancing cures for certain diseases and helping people like Sonia.
Basic Background on Stem Cells
Stem cells are undifferentiated or essentially blank cells. This means they are capable of developing into cells that serve numerous functions in different parts of the body. Most cells in the body are differentiated cells. These cells can only serve a specific purpose in a particular organ (Cafasso). Since stem cells have the ability to turn into various other types of cells, scientists believe that they can be useful for treating and understanding diseases better than most types of medicines. Some examples of what stem cells can be used for are the following: growing new cells in a laboratory to replace damaged organs or tissues, correcting parts of organs that don’t work properly, researching causes of genetic defects in cells, researching how diseases occur or why certain cells develop into cancer cells, and testing new drugs for safety and effectiveness. These are only a few of the excellent things stem cells can accomplish. Stem cells are changing the way of medicine for the better.
All humans start out as only one cell. This cell is called a zygote, or a fertilized egg. The zygote divides into two cells, then four cells, and so on. Eventually, the cells begin to differentiate, taking on a certain function in a part of the body, this process is called differentiation. Stem cells are cells that haven’t differentiated yet. They have the ability to divide and make an indefinite number of copies of themselves. Other cells in the body can only replicate a limited number of times before they begin to break down. When a stem cell divides, it can either remain a stem cell or turn into a differentiated cell, such as a muscle cell or a red blood cell. Stem cells are endless and have endless responsibilities for the human body.
Embryonic Stem Cells
Although, stem cells are a big discovery in the medical field, researchers went even further and found out there are also embryonic stem cells. Embryonic stem cells are derived from embryos, hence the name embryonic stem cell. Most embryonic stem cells are derived from embryos that develop from eggs that have been fertilized and then donated for research purposes with informed consent of the donors. They are not derived from eggs fertilized in a woman’s body. Embryonic cells have many benefits as they treat diseases such as, traumatic spinal cord injuries, stroke, severe burns, rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease, hearing loss, retinal disease, Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and many more. As embryonic stem cells have had a great change for the medical field they are still discovering many more cures and treatments with embryonic stem cells in recent research. Embryonic stem cells have to be made in a vitro fertilization clinic and then donated for research purposes with informed consent of the donors. Growing cells in the laboratory is known as cell culture. Human embryonic stem cells are generated by transferring cells from a preimplantation-stage embryo into a plastic laboratory culture dish that contains a nutrient broth known as culture medium (National Institute of Health). As long as the embryonic stem cells in culture are grown under appropriate conditions, they can remain undifferentiated. However, if cells are allowed to clump together to form embryoid bodies, they begin to differentiate. They can form muscle cells, nerve cells, and many other cell types. Although spontaneous differentiation is a good indication that a culture of embryonic stem cells is healthy, the process is uncontrolled and therefore an inefficient strategy to produce cultures of specific cell types (National Institute of Health).
Adult Stem Cells
Embryonic stem cells go hand and hand with adult stem cells to take stem cells to the next level. An adult stem cell is thought to be an undifferentiated cell, found among differentiated cells in a tissue or organ. The adult stem cell can renew itself and can differentiate to yield some or all of the major specialized cell types of the tissue or organ. The primary roles of adult stem cells in a living organism are to maintain and repair the tissue in which they are found (National Institute of Health). Adult stem cells have been identified in many organs and tissues, including brain, bone marrow, peripheral blood, blood vessels, skeletal muscle, skin, teeth, heart, gut, liver, ovarian epithelium, and testis. They are thought to reside in a specific area of each tissue and have a specific role for that specific organ. Adult stem cells are used by the body to repair and replace damaged tissue in the same area in which they are found. Adult stem cells can treat diseases and conditions such as, replace neurons damaged by spinal cord injury, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease or other neurological problems, produce insulin that could treat people with diabetes and heart muscle cells that could repair damage after a heart attack, and virtually replace any organ or tissue damaged or diseased. Adult stem cells, being specialized cells and having specific jobs are harder to fertilize because researchers have a hard time determining what job that stem cell is going to have. There are many factors that play into creating adult stem cells. Every factor has to be perfect for researchers to create the right stem cell. One wrong factor could turn the adult stem cell into an embryonic stem cell. Adult stem cells can regenerate more adult stem cells for long periods of time, this is called self-renewal. Self- renewal is a big factor as to why adult stem cells are so important. This helps the adult stem cells repair and replace damaged or diseased tissues and organs. If adult stem cells weren’t a renewal cell then the process of repairing and replacing would take a long time, being that they are renewal cells the process is quicker because there are more cells helping the repairing and replacing.
Research and the Future of Stem Cells
Although researchers already found embryonic and adult stem cells, they haven’t stopped researching. Stem cell research is ongoing at universities, research institutions, and hospitals around the world. Researchers are currently focusing on finding ways to control how stem cells turn into other types of cells. This is going to lead to finding new cures and treatments for diseases. All of the research will help ongoing medical problems in the medical field and save lives that were thought to never be cured before this discovery. The interest of stem cell research became abundant because the research helps the understanding of how diseases occur by watching stem cells mature into cells in bones, heart muscle, nerves, and other organs and tissue, researchers and doctors may better understand how diseases and conditions develop. Stem cells generate healthy cells to replace diseased cells by being guided into becoming specific cells that can be used to regenerate and repair diseased or damaged tissues in people. People who could benefit from stem cell therapies include those with spinal cord injuries, type 1 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, stroke, burns, cancer and osteoarthritis. New areas of study include the effectiveness of using human stem cells that have been programmed into tissue-specific cells to test new drugs. For the testing of new drugs to be accurate, the cells must be programmed to acquire properties of the type of cells targeted by the drug. Techniques to program cells into specific cells continue to be studied. Researchers are still researching to improve the medical field to become the best treatment for patients to benefit from and to help cure and treat diseases.
Controversy of Stem Cells
Debates over the ethics of embryonic stem cell research have divided scientists, politicians, and religious groups for years. The largest controversy with stem cell research is the use of an embryo. This deals with the controversies surrounding laws and beliefs regarding contraception, abortion, and in vitro fertilization. Controversies arise if the embryo is human and whether the embryo has legal and moral rights. The removal of the inner cell mass prevents the blastocysts from continuing to develop. Although such blastocysts would likely be discarded and destroyed by the clinics eventually if not used for research, controversy still shrouds their use for a scientific purpose. Some believe that life of a human being begins at the moment of conception and the embryos deserve protection. In addition, some cultures and religious traditions do not support the use of human life as a means to some other end despite the end being a noble one. Yet other cultures support embryonic stem cell research as they believe that the embryo has a moral right as a human only after a few months of development. The controversy of stem cells has to primarily do with religious beliefs with that certain religion. Most religions are against abortion and think that stem cells are like taking the child out of the woman, however it isn’t. Stem cells have nothing to do with taking a life away from someone, rathermore it has to do with helping someone regain a disease organ, or replace a damaged organ or tissue. Stem cell research is trying to help people regain their lives back not take away lives from others. Researchers are trying to regain organs and tissues that people have got taken away from them. Stem cells are the new medical way of a transplant. Instead of waiting on the transplant list not knowing if you are going to receive and organ before it is too late or having your hopes up for nothing, stem cells are going to regrow your organ and tissue to replace it and have it fully functioning how it is supposed to. Stem cell research is helping the medical field in many ways. People need to look at the positive side of things and not the negative. Stem cells are going to save numerous lives and change the medical field for the better.
Conclusion
Stem cells are the cure to many obdurate diseases and with the continuous research of stem cells new cures will be found. Stem cells are very beneficial in today’s medicine and without them, many people would be suffering and potentially dying from such diseases. Stem cells create more treatments and cures for diseases that would have been thought to never be curable with the past medical field. Doctors and patients are fortunate to have this type of treatment available because without it such diseases as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and many more would not be treatable.
22.02.2019