What the Size of Stem Cells Has to Say?

Scientists find that the enlargement of blood stem cells restricts their ability to generate new blood cells during aging.

Human body is comprised of trillions of cells, each having its specific size according to their types. This raises a long-standing question of whether cell size is important for cellular physiology.

Scientists at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) have finally found the answer to it. The new study shows that the enlargements of blood stem cells are found to restrict their ability to generate new blood cells during aging.

About Stem Cells
Encyclopedia section of medindia gives general info about Stem Cells

‘Scientists find that enlargement of blood stem cells restricts their ability to generate new blood cells during aging, thereby emphasizing that for stem cells, bigger does not mean better.’

This states that cellular enlargement drives a decline in function of stem cells, thereby emphasizing – bigger does not mean better as concerned with stem cells. Moreover, it was also observed that when these cells were restored to their usual size, they behaved normally again.

Stem Cells and Size

“We have discovered cellular enlargement as a new aging factor in vivo, and now we can explore if we can treat cellular enlargement to delay aging and aging-related diseases,” says Jette Lengefeld, a former MIT postdoc, who is now a principal investigator at the University of Helsinki.

About Cord Blood
Encyclopedia section of medindia gives general info about Cord Blood

The study team demonstrated the importance of size in another type of stem cells — intestinal stem cells. It was found that larger stem cells were less able to generate intestinal organoids, which mimic the structure of the intestinal lining.

“This is striking evidence supporting the model that size is important for functionality of stem cells When we damage the stem cells’ DNA but keep them small during the damage, they retain their functionality. And if we reduce the size of large stem cells, we can restore their function,” says Jette Lengefeld, a former MIT postdoc, who is now a principal investigator at the University of Helsinki.

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The study also stated that discovery of specific drugs that aid in making the large blood stem cells smaller again, may consequently help solve various blood disorders like anemia, leukemia, or other immune dysfunctions.

Thus, the relationship between cell size and function is found to be preserved in stem cells, and cellular size may remain a marker for the function of stem cells.

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Source-Medindia