Stem cells reflection
Introduction
Stem cells are cells that can become any other cells in the body. Stem cells are used to heal a person's body, they divide to take the place of dead cells as long as the person or animal continues to live. There are two differences between stem cells and other cells, the first is that “they are unspecialized cells capable of renewing themselves through cell division.”1 The second difference is that under certain psychologic or experimental conditions stem cells can become organ specific cells or tissue. In some organs, stem cell divide regularly to replace dead or worn out cells like the bone marrow. But in other organs, like the heart, they only divide on special occasions. Stem cells have three main types: One of them is the Embryonic cell, which “are obtained from the inner cell mass of the blastocyst, a mainly hollow ball of cells that, in the human, forms three to five days after an egg cell is fertilized by a sperm.”2 Scientist extract the stem cells from the blastocyst and then grow the cells in laboratories under certain conditions, so that they stay as embryonic stem cell. This type of stem cells is pluripotent. This means they can create any type of specialized cell. There …show more content…
Therefore, killing the embryo and some people consider it immoral because of the belief that “life begins during conception.”11 Another disadvantage is that because the embryonic stem cells are not from the patient the patient may reject them and “according to a new research, stem cell therapy was used on heart disease patients. It was found that it can make their coronary arteries narrower.”11 Adult stem cells are more specialized, so they can't become any stem cell and lastly stem cell treatments are very expensive costing “approximately $10,000 per treatment”12 in American clinics and some of the long term effects are
Introduction
Stem cells are cells that can become any other cells in the body. Stem cells are used to heal a person's body, they divide to take the place of dead cells as long as the person or animal continues to live. There are two differences between stem cells and other cells, the first is that “they are unspecialized cells capable of renewing themselves through cell division.”1 The second difference is that under certain psychologic or experimental conditions stem cells can become organ specific cells or tissue. In some organs, stem cell divide regularly to replace dead or worn out cells like the bone marrow. But in other organs, like the heart, they only divide on special occasions. Stem cells have three main types: One of them is the Embryonic cell, which “are obtained from the inner cell mass of the blastocyst, a mainly hollow ball of cells that, in the human, forms three to five days after an egg cell is fertilized by a sperm.”2 Scientist extract the stem cells from the blastocyst and then grow the cells in laboratories under certain conditions, so that they stay as embryonic stem cell. This type of stem cells is pluripotent. This means they can create any type of specialized cell. There …show more content…
Therefore, killing the embryo and some people consider it immoral because of the belief that “life begins during conception.”11 Another disadvantage is that because the embryonic stem cells are not from the patient the patient may reject them and “according to a new research, stem cell therapy was used on heart disease patients. It was found that it can make their coronary arteries narrower.”11 Adult stem cells are more specialized, so they can't become any stem cell and lastly stem cell treatments are very expensive costing “approximately $10,000 per treatment”12 in American clinics and some of the long term effects are