Stem cells form the important foundation for every organ, tissue and cell in the body. Under proper conditions, stem cells begin to develop into specialized tissues and organs. Additionally, stem cells can self-renew, that is they possess the ability wherein they can divide and give rise to more stem cells.

There are many different types of stem cells. These include embryonic stem cells that exist only at the earliest stages of embryonic development. Embryonic stem cells can form all cell types of the body as a result of which they are referred to as ‘pluripotent’ stem cells. There are various types of ‘adult’ or ‘tissue-specific’ stem cells that exist in a number of different fetal and adult tissues in the body.

These stem cells are restrictive to the kind of cells they can further generate.  Generally they can only form a limited number of cell types corresponding with their tissues of origin; they are called ‘multipotent’ stem cells.

Embryonic stem cells, as their name suggests, are stem cells derived from embryos. And the process of using them for taking care of medical ailments is termed as embryonic cell therapy.  Most embryonic stem cells are derived from embryos that develop from eggs that have been fertilized in vitro. They are not derived from eggs fertilized in a woman’s body. For embryonic cell therapy the embryonic cells are generally grown in the laboratory and are known as cell culture.

Information on Embryonic Stem Cells

Human embryonic stem cells are isolated by transferring the inner cell mass into a plastic laboratory culture dish that contains a nutrient broth known as culture medium. The cells divide and spread over the surface of the culture dish. The inner surface of the culture dish is most often found to be coated with mouse embryonic skin cells that have been treated. As a result of this they do not lose their ability to divide and will not divide. This coating layer of cells is referred to as the feeder layer. The mouse cells in the bottom of the culture dish provide the inner cell mass cells with a sticky surface to which they can attach and bind. The feeder cells are also associated with the function of releasing nutrients into the culture medium.

Scientists have found out and subsequently devised ways to grow embryonic stem cells without mouse feeder cells. This is a significant scientific advance because of the risk that viruses or other macromolecules in the mouse cells may be transmitted to the human cells. There is huge potential associated with embryonic cell therapy. Scientists believe that what they have found till now is just the tip of the huge potential associated with embryonic cell therapy.

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