STEM CELLS
• Can be any type of cell during early life
and growth
• Can serve as internal repair system in
some tissues
• Each new cell after division can remain a
stem cell or become a specialized cell
***“What do you notice? What
can you draw upon from
relating these two images?“***
BRAIN
• Totipotent: Having the ability to give rise to all the
cell types of the body plus all of the cell types that
make up the extraembryonic tissues such as the
placenta.
• Pluripotent: Having the ability to give rise to all of
the various cell types of the body.
• Multipotent: Having the ability to develop into more
than one cell type of the body
•
•
•
•
•
Early Embryonic = Totipotent
Blastocyst = Pluripotent
Fetal = Pluripotent
Umbilical Cord = Multipotent
Adult = Multipotent
“Multipotent”
• Primary role is to
maintain and repair
tissue in which
they are found
• Limited Use
“Pluripotent”
• Contain the more
“sought after”
stem cells
• Destruction of
embryo
– “Human Life”
– “Right to Choose”
• People who have Parkinson's disease experience difficulty with movement, balance
and speech.
• These problems result from the death of specialized brain cells called dopamine
neurons.
• These cells produce dopamine, a chemical that helps control muscle movements.
• The effects of the disease can be treated with drugs that help increase dopamine in the
brain, but there is no known cure.
• Researchers studying Parkinson's disease knew that the problem was to replace the
dead dopamine neurons with healthy dopamine-producing cells.