Stem cells could likewise be reprogrammed into
differentiated organ cells.
Not exact matches
Remarkably, given the complexity of the kidney, the
cells differentiated into exactly those required in the different compartments of the
organ.
As it can take weeks to grow human
cells into intact
differentiated and functional tissues within
Organ Chips, such as those that mimic the lung and intestine, and researchers seek to understand how drugs, toxins or other perturbations alter tissue structure and function, the team at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering led by Donald Ingber has been searching for ways to non-invasively monitor the health and maturity of
cells cultured within these microfluidic devices over extended times.
One likely reason for this is that animals undergo cellular differentiation; human life begins as a single
cell that
differentiates into the various
cell types needed for different
organs, body parts, blood, the immune system, etc..
Since embryonic stem
cells can
differentiate into any type of tissue, they have the potential to treat an almost unending array of medical conditions — replacing damaged or lost body parts or tissues, slowing degenerative diseases, even growing new
organs.
Recent experiments, for instance, suggest that when an
organ lacks LGR -5-positive
cells,
differentiated cells may be able to «dedifferentiate» and repair tissues — a radical change from the one - way street toward specific identities that stem
cells were thought to travel.
The EMT is a biological process wherein epithelial
cells (
cells that line the cavities and surfaces of blood vessels and
organs) become mesenchymal (skeletal) stem
cells that can move throughout the body and
differentiate into a variety of
cell types.
Adult organisms ranging from fruit flies to humans harbor adult stem
cells, some of which renew themselves through
cell division while others
differentiate into the specialized
cells needed to replace worn - out or damaged
organs and tissues.
During embryonic development,
organ - specific
cell types are formed from pluripotent stem
cells, which can
differentiate into all
cell types of the human body.
But the numerous
cells in the peanut - shaped fossil were not
differentiated into
organs; they all looked alike.
At that key point, Takebe added two more types of
cell known to help to recreate
organ - like function in animals: endothelial
cells, which line blood vessels, taken from an umbilical cord; and mesenchymal
cells, which can
differentiate into bone, cartilage or fat, taken from bone marrow.
The phenotype of NP
cells generated ex vivo (Figure S8) closely resembles that of central memory CD4 + T
cells found in vivo, which persist for years in secondary lymphoid
organs and can
differentiate into effector memory CD4 + T
cells [45].
During fibrosis these
cells differentiate into myofibroblasts, causing scarring and
organ failure.
The Salk researchers stopped the
cells from
differentiating further, but each germ layer was theoretically capable of giving rise to specific tissues and
organs.
«The region selective - state of these stem
cells is entirely novel for laboratory - cultured stem
cells and offers important insight into how human stem
cells might be
differentiated into derivatives that give rise to a wide range of tissues and
organs,» says Jun Wu, a postdoctoral researcher in Izpisua Belmonte's lab and first author of the new paper.
Successful
cell replacement depends on the ability of donor
cells to
differentiate into all functional
cell types lost in the target
organ.
Organ renewal and
cell divisions by
differentiated cells in Drosophila.
A striking aspect of
organ regeneration is how injury transforms
differentiated, functional tissue into proliferative, regenerative
cells that coordinate tissue replacement.
New planarian tissues and
organs are created by neoblasts - adult stem
cells that share certain characteristics with embryonic stem
cells and can
differentiate into essentially all the
cells in adult animals.
In a developing embryo, stem
cells can
differentiate into all the specialized
cells, but also maintain the normal turnover of regenerative
organs, such as blood, skin, or intestinal tissues.
Suzuki, possibly inspired by his new job as a research scientist at the Research Unit for
Organ Regeneration in Kobe, Japan, explains it this way: «Just as humans can start over in life,
differentiated cells can also take on other fates following the generation of undifferentiated stem
cells.»
The leaf boundary regions separate
differentiated organs from undifferentiated stem
cells in plants.
Your immune system is a complex network of specialized
cells and
organs that work hard to
differentiate between self and «non-self» — that is, between what's you and what's not.