Stem Cells - Fundamentals

What is a Stem cell?

A stem cell is a unique cell that can give rise to any specific specialized cell, such as a blood cell depending on the area of the body. They have the ability to divide for indefinite periods in culture and have a unique property to differentiate into any type of body cell e.g., nerve cell, bladder cell or muscle cell

This unique quality of the stem cells makes them ideal for treating injury and disease by repairing or replacing damaged or diseased body cells with healthy new cells. This type of inoculation of stem cells in the area to be treated is now called stem cell transplantation.

Stem cells are used to treat degenerative diseases, which occur due to premature cell death or malfunctioning of specific cell type. Stem cells can be used to replace these dead cells.

Transplanting stem cells into the damaged area and directing them to grow into a new healthy tissue. For example heart muscle cells can be made to regenerate after a heart attack.

Stem cells that are already present in the body can be activated to produce more and new type of tissues if required.

Stem cell can also be collected, and grown in media, maintained and stored to provide healthy replacement tissue for transplantation.