Stem cells have the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the body during early life and growth. Moreover, in many tissues that serve as a kind of internal repair system, which divides essentially without limit to replenish other cells as long as the person or animal is still alive. When a stem cell divides, each new cell has the ability to remain a stem cell or become another type of cell with a more specialized function, such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell or brain cell.
Stem cells differ from other cell types by two important features. First, they are unspecialized cells that can renew themselves through cell division, sometimes after long periods of inactivity. Second, under certain physiological or experimental conditions, you may need to become specific tissues or organs of cells with special functions. In some organs, such as bone marrow cells and gut mother regularly divide to repair and replace worn or damaged tissue. In other organs, however, as the pancreas and heart, stem cells divide only under specific conditions.
Research on stem cells is advancing knowledge about how an organism develops from a single cell and how healthy cells replace damaged cells in adult organisms. Stem cell research is one of the most fascinating areas of contemporary biology, but, like many expanding fields of scientific research, research on stem cells raises scientific questions as rapidly as it generates new discoveries.
