The embryonic stem cells that grow in cultures and subcultures divide without differentiation, preserving their unspecialized status for more than six months. Specialists talk of an embryonic stem cell line, when all the cells have proliferated in the culture while remaining unspecialized and genetically normal. Further experimentation can be carried on from such stages in other facilities, but only after freezing the cell batches. How are embryonic stem cells identified? Although tests are conducted both on human and animal embryonic stem cells, there is no singular group of features that may characterize human cell groups.

Normal microscopic analysis is usually sufficient to determine whether the embryonic stem cells preserve the long term growth and self-renewal properties. Further investigations involve the presence of specific proteins that are normally produced by unspecialized or undifferentiated cells. The analysis of the chromosomes is equally important to reveal the genetic health of the embryonic stem cells. There is no other form in fact to detect genetic mutations in the cells and establish whether the evolution is normal or not. Thus, precision and care in the performance of the laboratory routine is a rule of professional conduct strictly followed.

The possibility to use embryonic stem cells for the regeneration of organs or body tissues comes from the scientific possibility to manipulate the biological material and make the cells differentiate according to the needs. Thus, the chemical composition of the culture medium, the insertion of special genes and the alteration of the culture dish represent methods of controlling and triggering the differentiation. At present, research is still in progress and results are still not conclusive enough to allow the transplant of artificially grown cells into the human body for the treatment of various diseases but the future seems to be bright in this direction.

Embryonic stem cell research was banned in American during the Bush administration. The end of this bare period came in March 2009 when the new American president lifted the ban and allowed the research processes to be reinitialized. Scientists are unsure about what to expect from embryonic stem cell research in terms of future promises because the full potential or the eventual risks are not known. Apparently, almost all diseases will receive a cure, if we are to trust a very optimistic point of view. If a person immobilized in a wheel chair because of spinal cord injury can walk again, then, hopes can be high for a number of other diseases.

Embryonic stem cell research still causes lots of heated international controversies and debates. It is the moral side of research and the way it disposes of human embryos that lots of people questions. The biological material usually results completed fertilization projects, where embryos’ owners donate them for research. The pro-life movement that opposes embryonic stem cell research brings lots of arguments against the use of such material for scientific purposes. Scientists are accused of playing God, which is neither fair nor right.

For the moment, embryonic stem cell research has a lot of stages to go through. Progress is being made in the attempt to discover new remedies for irrecoverable diseases, yet, the path is very sinuous. Question marks do remain in relation to the morality of the process, to the safety of the innovative treatments and to the extent or efficiency of the results. The issue can be carried on along these debate tones, as no relevant common conclusion can be reached for the time being.

Any embryo stem cell that lives in a blastocyst (the resulting cell after the fertilization of an ovum by a spermatozoon) has the infinite potential of transforming into any of the functional body cells that are specialized for a certain body task. It is from the early days of the blastocyst that the entire complexity of the human body results. The successes and benefits of science in this research domain have an incredible value, but many people wonder about the right to life inherent to any result of conception. From this point of view any research conducted on embryos is a violation of the life sacredness.

Medical scientists agree unanimously that the embryo stem cell research could alleviate incredible sufferance and treat diseases that have no solutions in the traditional medical perspective. Scientists are also making efforts to come up with some substitutes for any embryo stem cell necessity by identifying other sources of stem cells. For instance, the amniotic liquid seems to be very rich in such cell formations, and the sample collection poses no threat to the fetus. Then, another recent discovery has been the possibility for the reversed function of normal somatic cells that can be reprogrammed into becoming stem cells once again.

By far the most reputable scientific conquest of the last twenty years, the collection of stem cells without harming the embryos has finally been put into practice. This achievement is relatively new but it definitely solves the ethical concerns that made the foundation for so many objections. Nevertheless, there are lots of other things to consider and implement in modern medicine, before embryo stem cell research may solve the problem of the chronic diseases affecting humanity.

In fact the adult stem cell has the potential of evolving into a large number of differentiated cells. Research has gone so far that we presently know there are adult stem cells in the heart and in the central nervous system. The beginning of all studies goes fifty years back when the first bone marrow researchers were ready to understand the presence of two types of stem cells in the spinal cord. One kind of cells is responsible for the formation of all the blood cells necessary to the body, while a second one works to produce connective tissues, cartilages, bones and fat.

Discoveries are undoubtedly amazing, but adult stem cell research has had difficulties in creating laboratory cultures on the basis of samples taken from adult tissues. This laboratory difficulty appears from the fact that any adult stem cell has a limited range of division, proliferation and transformation into specialized cell groups. An adult stem cell will stay inactive in a special part of the tissue, and it only activates when necessary because of some physical trauma or body failure. The major challenge at the moment is the creation of adult stem cell cultures and their manipulation for disease treatment.

Should adult stem cell research repute more victories, maybe solutions will become available to replace the insulin generating cells of diabetes patients or the dopamine-producing ones of Parkinson’s disease patients. Moreover, if methods are found to regenerate the cardiac muscle tissues, then the number of heart attacks will no longer prove so life-claiming. Various genetic experiments are further develop to find and separate adult stem cell groups in the attempt to make them even more widely useful to the treatment of diseases.

Stem cells seem to work great for the repairs necessary to the bone marrow, but so far, stem cells have been only partly able to divide in the heart or the pancreas. There are two types of stem cells used in scientific research and medical applications: embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells. The studies on embryos started back in the early 80s when mouse cells were used for lab testing. These first investigations made it possible for scientists to come up with methods of deriving stem cells from human embryos at the end of the 20th century and then grow them in laboratories.

Even if morally and ethically debated, the use of the human embryonic stem cells in lab tests are considered by some people the only way to push medical science forward. The embryos result from in vitro fertilization projects, since only part of the embryos can get transferred and implanted in a womb. The remaining embryos can be passed to laboratory studies if the donor gives his/her consent. Another source of stem cells is the use of somatic cells that are reprogrammed to return to the initial unspecialized state.

The main moral concern is that of harming embryos, that are considered alive in spirit and not only in the physical form alone. While banned by president Bush in the United States, studies have once again been given the green light by the new American president Barrack Obama. On the other hand, the importance of stem cells is overwhelming if we consider what huge opportunities it opens for the treatment of diseases such as diabetes, leukemia, Parkinson’s disease and so on. However, stem cell therapies are not fully known or available because this part of regenerative medicine has a lot more to unravel before becoming fully operational, safe and effective.

Injection is the only way of sending stem cell transplants into the bloodstream and once they get into the bone marrow, these stem cells specialize and initiate blood production. There are several cycles of stem cell transplants that need to be performed depending on the cycles of the chemotherapy treatment. How can stem cells work for blood formation? Well, these remarkable biological cellular formations can generate the three types of blood cells such as the red blood cells, the white blood cells and the platelets. The red cells carry the oxygen to all the body parts, the white cells fight against bacteria acting as body shields and the platelets regulate blood clotting and bleeding.

Although stem cell transplants seem like a separate therapy, it is worth mentioning the fact that the blood and the bone marrow normally contain stem cells, but these get destroyed in cancer patients because of chemotherapy. The stem cell transplants thus represent a method of restoring the blood cells production that would otherwise stop in the absence of the undifferentiated cells. Stem cell transplants are not necessary to all cancer patients. In fact, several factors indicate whether the treatment is suitable for the patient or not, and the clearest examples are the patient’s responsiveness to the treatment, the health condition, the stage of the disease and so on.

Stem cell transplants used to be approved only for young patients, but age no longer seems to be the problem for modern science. What does indeed matter is the health of the internal organs such as kidneys, heart and lungs as well as the performance status in the cancer therapy. There are several types of stem cell transplants but people have only heard of just a few. And these include bone marrow transplants, peripheral stem cell blood transplants or cord blood transplants. Otherwise, the number of classifications and the criteria serving for such purposes is very large, although not necessary to the average person.

Bone marrow transplant represents the most basic form of stem cell transplantation, and the practice of this treatment has brought numerous successes. A donor is most of the time necessary to provide the right amount of biological material to support the chemotherapy treatment of a cancer patient. If the compatibility with a donor is not possible, and the intervention is pressing, then, the patient’s bone marrow tissue can be used but on the one condition that it be collected prior to the beginning of the chemotherapy treatment. The stem cells will be frozen and stored until the intervention.

Modern stem cell transplantation options include the use of umbilical cord blood or peripheral blood collected either from a donor or from the patient. Nevertheless, such procedures are less common since they usually require modern technologies and special equipment. Hence, the bone marrow transplant remains the most popular and widely used kind of stem cell transplantation in the world. It enjoys a high rate of success, although it often requires several transplants before complete regeneration of the blood. Normally, there will be a stem cell transplantation for every intensive chemotherapy session.

It is important that the the patient and the doctor should discuss all the aspects related to the procedure. For instance, the donor as well as the patient have to be carefully prepared in order to know what the procedure involves. Most people fear the fact that the collection of bone marrow is incredibly painful. The methods used are no mystery, and the patient and donor should be familiar with everything that a stem cell transplantation involves.