Chinese Scientists Prove Embryonic Stem Cells Alternative Potent
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One of the controversial issues surrounding stem cell research was the method stem cells were derived. According to the Washington Post, human embryonic stem cell research could engineer genetically-compatible tissues to treat all sorts of diseases, but since embryos have to be destroyed to collect said stem cells, people have argued against it.
Stem cells are differentiated from other body cells because they are pluripotent, meaning they have the potential to become any kind of cell. Adult cells generally can only reproduce cells exactly like themselves.
Back in 2006, scientists created induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells by using viruses to make adult cells regress into a form that appeared identical to embryonic stem cells. Two recent Chinese experiments have proved that the iPS cells really are equivalent to embryo-derived cells by a method called “tetraploid complementation.”
According to L.A. Times, the researchers produced iPS cells with standard methods from a batch of mice. The Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and the Shanghai Jiao Tong Unversity created 37 cell lines, three of which produced 27 live mice, many of which could mate and have children.
The first generation of genetically tampered mice was all chimeras, animals with different contributing genes composing different parts of their bodies. Parts of their bodies would contain DNA from the host mice that the iPS cells were derived from, while other parts contained original DNA.
Though the Wall Street Journal warns that “the results don’t necessarily prove that reprogrammed cells have the same properties as true embryonic stem cells,” the fact that the mice embryos were able to incorporate the injected cells into their final genetic make-up, grow into adults, and reproduce, shows a lot of promise.
Another research team from the National Institute of Biological Sciences in Beijing had less success than the aforementioned research team; both teams admit that the percentage of failure was very high, and they admit the first-generation mice did exhibit abnormalities.
Their warnings are aimed at discouraging rogue scientists from attempting the process on humans, basically creating 95 percent clones from eggs and iPS cells derived from small DNA samples. The potential of clones being made without people’s knowledge has only spurred the human cloning debate further.
every time...science and technologies have had contraversies...it would be great if they could find an alternative way to derive stem cells other than an embryo to cure abnormal disease...
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