Therapeutic Stem Cells In Organs
Stem cell therapy refers to the advanced technology that involves new techniques, procedures, and strategies that enable the replacement of dysfunctional or diseased cells with live, healthy, and functioning ones. Therapeutic stem cells in organs can be applied to a variety of human diseases such as cancer and its many types, Parkinson's and Lou Gehrig's disease, diabetes, and spinal cord injuries. It has also been said that replacing dead stem cells with new ones in the retina of the eyes can even treat terminal eye diseases like blindness, glaucoma, and macular degeneration someday.
Stem cells
Stem cells are essential building blocks of bodily organs in humans. They serve many different functions that allow these organs to function properly. Similar to the human body, these cells have a definite life span and they eventually die. Although it is the primary characteristic of these stem cells to multiply and develop to be different cell types throughout their lives, some of them do not replenish themselves or become dysfunctional. When a significant number of stem cells become dysfunctional, their small number will be unable to combat disease. This is the time when therapeutic stem cells in organs are needed.
Stem cell therapy
The primary objective of stem cell therapy is to manage the performance of stem cell differentiation to be able to produce sufficient amount of stem cells in the body. If this is achieved, a number of therapeutic applications can be observed. Among these is the production of different neuron types that will help cure Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and most spinal cord injuries. The generation of heart muscle cells, which are useful for patients suffering from heart disease, may also be possible through therapeutic stem cells. The other useful applications of stem cells therapy include the treatment for diabetes and cure for baldness. Stem cells also benefits a number of tissue production applications including engineering complete organs such as the eyes, heart, kidneys, liver, heart, or the brain and its parts. Cancer research, drug testing, and fundamental studies on embryonic development have also taken advantage of stem cell therapy. However, although therapeutic stem cells in organs have been proven to be advantageous, this procedure faces a considerably greater challenge – requiring a significant amount of time and effort to produce stem cells.
An example of a therapeutic stem cell that can potentially be helpful in all of the abovementioned applications is the embryonic stem cell. Human embryonic stem cells are generally obtained from fertilized eggs or aborted fetuses. Because the procedure of obtaining these kinds of therapeutic stem cells requires serious moral contemplation by society, the process has become a popular issue and has come under ethical scrutiny. Several institutions in the society including the church and medicine are debating whether this advanced technology is legal and ethical or otherwise.