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Question
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Question Set 1
a.Name three characteristics that distinguish stem cells from other cell types.
b.What is an embryonic stem cell?
c.What is an adult (or somatic) stem cell?
d.In a few sentences, what is differentiation? Commitment? Terminal differentiation?
e.In terms of cell culture, give a brief description of the relationship between proliferation and differentiation.
f.What are the five main parameters that control the induction of differentiation?
g.Define the follow:
Multipotent
Pluripotent
Plasticity
Embryoid body
Feeder layer
Explanation / Answer
a. Stem cells are undifferentiated. They are small round cells unlike other cells unlike other differentiated cells which differ in shape, size and function. They have self-renewal capacity, meaning they can replenish their number indefinitely. They can differentiate into multiple cell types.
b. Embryonic stem cells are stem cells obtained from the blastocyst. They are totipotent, meaning they can form any cell type of the body. They tend to express cancer cell markers in vitro and can form teratomas in patients when used for cell therapies.
c. Adult stem cells are the stem cell found normally in the human body. They can form a small number of cells. They have lower plasticity and self renewal capacity than embryonic stem cells, and are safer to use for cell based treatments.
d. Differentiation is the formation of committed cells from stem cells. Commitment of stem cells is when a stem cell starts to irreversibly follow a cell lineage which ends up forming a differentiated cell. Terminal differentiation is the formation of the fully developed mature, differentiated cell from it's precursors, which lacks the capability for further division and modification.
e. In a cell culture, there needs to be a balance between proliferation and differentiation. The increase in the number of stem cells and related precursors is called proliferation, and after the number of stem cells has increased, they will start to differentiate into mature cells.Stem cells can be kept in the proliferative stage by the use of various cell markers which block the differentiation .
f. Cellular differentiation is controlled by the following factors:
g. Multipotent: Stem cells that can give rise to more than one cell type
Pluripotent: Stem cells which can give rise to almost all of the cell types in the body
Plasticity: Ability of adult stem cells to switch lineages if there is a lack of that type of cells/stem cells
Embryoid body: Aggregrates of embryonic stem cells formed by homophillic binding of e-cadherin
Feeder layer: Layer of antibody free cells, usually mouse fibroblast cells, used as nutrition for stem cells grown in vitro
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