1. James A. Thomson of University of Wisconsin discovered human embryonic stem cells. Thomson was the first to isolate an embryonic stem cell line. Thomson also created a strategy to find monkey ES cells.
2. Evan Synder reported isolation of human neural stem cells. In his experiment, Synder injected the neural stem cells into the brains of newborn mice and confirmed that the cells develop into neurons and glia, the two major classes of brain cells.
3. One way to determine if an ES is pluripotent is mark them and inject them into an animal when it is born. If the marked cells turn up in all its tissues, the cell line is deemed pluripotent.
4. Could ES cells be injected in the region of the body desired to regenerate? No. The ES cells might form a teratoma or could differentiate into an undesirable tissue type, or both. In animal experiments, a teratoma containing fully formed teeth have been reported. To reduce risk, ES cells can be coxed into progenitor-cell stage before being administered to avoid undifferentiation of unwanted cell types.
5. ES cells and their derivatives carry the same likelihood of immune rejection as a transplanted organ because they carry antigens by which the immune system recognizes as invaders.
6. The problem with ES cell reject the immune system can be solved by using the patient’s own genetic material through nuclear transfer.
7. The body is made of 200 kinds of cells. Once a cell is committed to a certain type there is no going back. Using somatic cell nuclear transfer scientist injected ES stem cells into heart scar tissue and within a month 38 percent of the tissue was healthy. SCNT is particular promising in cloning. In SCNT the nucleus is fused with denucleated human egg cell and placed in a surrogate mother. Woo Suk Hwantg proved that SCNT could work with primates. The Korean team create a human embryo through SCNT, grew it into a blastocyst and derived a pluripotent ES cell line.
8. ES cells derived by nuclear transfer are equivalent to regular ES cells.
9. German TOPCARE-AMI study patients with severe heart damage following myocardial infarction. The patients own heat progenitor cells were infused directly into the infracted artery. Four months later the size of the damaged tissue had decreased nearly 36 percent.
10. In bone marrow, stem cells are rare as one in 10,000 and in tissues there is no predictable location of the stem cells.
11. Once isolated, adult stem cells are slow and labor intensive to grow. There are many types of adult stem cells, each capable of repairing tissue they are to become. Scientist have only found a limit number of adult stem cells, and some organs have no stem cells after they are fully developed, meaning the adult stem cell could not be used to treat the organ. Some scientist argued the adult stem cell could differentiate itself into different types of cells types upon arrival at the damaged tissue; for example, bone marrow stem cells repairing heart muscle, brain, and liver cells.
12. The protein IGF-1 helps stem cells to travel great distances to the site of injury.
13. There has been a wealth of information suggesting adult stem cells have virtually the same qualities as embryonic stem cells. Scientists are far from showing that adult stem cells can treat a wide range of diseases.
14. The multipotent adjust progenitor cells has the potential to be coaxed into any tissue type. The MAPCs hold the potential to repair many types of tissue.
15. There is no controlled human studies showing bone marrow or any adult stem cell helping with Parkinson’s, spinal chord injury, or any other neurological disorder, says Dr. Jeffrey Macklis.
16. Canadian researchers would like to treat blindness with adult retinal stem cells. In 2008, retinal stem cell transplants in blind mice were restored to sight - Institutes of Ophthalmology and Child Health. This opens the door for treating blindness caused by diabetes or age-related macular degeneration.
17. Neural stem cells in primate brains formed brain tissue. In 2008, adult stem cells can be directed into nerve cells that can be redirected to turn into myelin making cells by changing a single gene, opening the door for potential therapy for multiple sclerosis patients. Oligodendrocytes have also been produced.
18. Adult stem cells have the potential to create dopamine for Parkinson patients. In 2007, an injection of neural stem cells in the brains of Parkinson Monkeys (African Green Monkey) led to a dramatic functional recovery. Drugs like L-DOPA that stimulate dopamine production diminish effectiveness over time and eventually the disease wins out.
19. Singapore wanted to build a knowledge economy. In 1999, the rulers set up two new university facilities and five new research centers, and funneled $3 billion into a series of funds designed to promote research, attract international life-sciences firms and finance local biotechnology.