Title: Pluripotent Adult Stem Cells: A Potential Revolution in Regenerative Medicine and Tissue Engineering
Abstract:Stem cells are undifferentiated cells defined by their abilities to self-renew and differentiate into mature cells. Stem cells found in fully developed tissues are defined as adult stem cells. The fun...Stem cells are undifferentiated cells defined by their abilities to self-renew and differentiate into mature cells. Stem cells found in fully developed tissues are defined as adult stem cells. The function of adult stem cells is the maintenance of adult tissue specificity by homeostatic cell replacement and tissue regeneration (Wagers and Weissman, 2004). Adult stem cells are presumed quiescent within adult tissues, but divide infrequently to generate a stem cell clone and a transiently-amplifying cell. The transiently-amplifying cells will undergo a lim‐ ited number of cell divisions before terminal differentiation into mature functional tissue cells. The existence of adult stem cells has been reported in multiple organs; these include: brain, heart, skin, intestine, testis, muscle and blood, among others. This chapter focuses on four adult stem cell populations: hematopoietic, mesenchymal, periodontal ligament-de‐ rived, and spermatogonial (Table 1).Read More