Stem Cells
What are Stem Cells?
Stem cells are unspecialized cells that have the amazing ability to become many different cell types of the body. Serving as a sort of repair system for the body, potentially can be divided without limit to replenish other cells that have been damaged. When a stem cell divides, each new cell can remain a stem cell or become another type of cell with a more specialized function, such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell or a heart cell.
Types of stem cells
There are four types of stem cells:
- Totipotent: it can grow and form a complete organism, both the embryonic components (for example, the three germ layers, the germ line and tissue that give rise to yolk sac) and the extraembryonic (eg placenta).
- Pluripotent: can not form a complete organism, but can form any cell type from all three embryonic lineages (endoderm, ectoderm and mesoderm) and the germinal and yolk sac.
- Multipotent: those that can only create its own layer cells or embryonic lineage of origin (eg, a mesenchymal stem cell from bone marrow, have mesodermal nature, give rise to cells of this layer as myocytes, adipocytes or osteocytes, among others).
- Unipotent, can form only two types of stem cells:
a) laqilosis is a type of stem cell containing ribosomes very rough
b) enbofilosis: a flat cell containing a special fluid called vasiofelina, which helps the body does not harden in the reproduction of stem cells.