Pham Dinh Vien

The adult stem cell category refers to undifferentiated cells that are present in all the body parts and tissues, for the only purpose of renewal and transformation into differentiated cells with a specialized role in the body functions. While an embryonic stem cell originates in the blastocyst, the initial cellular organization out of which the embryo evolves, scientists still don’t know anything about the origin of an adult stem cell as part of mature tissues. The capacity of the adult stem cells to generate new tissues has caused a revolution in the medical world: this is in fact the explanation for the success of bone marrow transplants.

The great discovery is that a single adult stem cell can evolve in different specialized categories, according to individual conditions. Presently, it is a generally recognized fact that adult stem cells are present in the heart as well as in the brain, which was previously unbelievable. The study that put the basis of the research on the adult stem cell was conducted fifty years ago when two types of cells were discovered in the structure of the bone marrow. A first group is responsible for the formation of all the blood cells necessary to the body, while a second one includes cells that allow the formation of fat, bone, cartilage and connective tissues.

The laboratory generation of adult stem cell categories is pretty difficult despite the amazing discoveries and progress made by medical research. Although stem cells are present in a small number in all tissues, their capacity to proliferate is limited, which leads to the difficulty to create large quantities in the laboratory. An adult stem cell is believed to remain inactive in a special part of the tissue, and it becomes active in years when tissue regeneration is necessary or when injury and disease occur. The major challenge at the moment is how to start cell culture and manipulate cells to treat diseases.

If control became possible over adult stem cell categories, medicine would be able to replace the dopamine-producing cells in the brains of Parkinson’s disease sufferers, or grow the insulin generating cells that would cure diabetes. The same goes true for the prevention of heart attacks by the regeneration of the cardiac muscle tissues. All sorts of scientific genetic experiments are conducted to identify and separate adult stem cell groups in the attempt to make them even more widely useful to the treatment of diseases.

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