What Are Stem Cells?
A stem cell has the capability to evolve into various cell types during the body’s growth and early development. They act as a repair system in tissues in which the cells divide limitlessly to restore other cells in a living body. The stem cell has two dominant features:
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They have the capacity to renew themselves by the act of cell division.
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They are distinguished by two characteristics: Unspecialized cells capable of renewing themselves through the division of the cells and they can be induced to become tissue or organ-specific cells with special functions.
Basically, stem cells can multiply and they can turn into other types of cells or tissue.
Due to the special regeneration abilities of a stem cell, the cells have the potential to heal many types of damaged tissue. This provides potentiality for the advancement of treating diseases.
Types of Stem Cells
A stem cell is different from other cells found in the body, and there are also different kinds of stem cells. However, a stem cell maintains three primary characteristics:
Pluripotent cells are capable of rising to each of the various cell types. An embryonic stem cell is pluripotent. Multipotent cells have more limitations than pluripotent cells, but they can result in different cell types. An adult stem cell is classified in this group.
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They can divide and renew themselves for extended durations.
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They are considered unspecialized cells (meaning that structurally the cells are not tissue-specific which would allow them to carry out specialized functions).
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They can develop into cell types that are specialized.