Abstract

MATA-MIRANDA, Maribel; VAZQUEZ-ZAPIEN, Gustavo J  and  SANCHEZ-MONROY, Virginia. Generalities and applications of the stem cells. Perinatol. Reprod. Hum. [online]. 2013, vol.27, n.3, pp.194-199. ISSN 2524-1710.

A stem cell (SC) is capable to divide indefinitely and differentiate into several specialized cell types, not only morphologically but also functionally. The term of SC emerged at the late twentieth century, by histologists and embryologist Boveri and Haecker. According to their origin the SC are classified in embryonic and adult, while according to their potential and differentiation capacity, they are classified in: totipotential, pluripotential, multipotential and unipotential. The main SC features are: a) self-renewal, which is due to the telomerase activity; b) pluripotentiallity, which is their ability to differentiate into other cell types; c) low immunogenicity, due to the low expression of the major histocompatibility complex I (MHC I) and lack expression of MHCII. The major SC works have been developed with aimed to differentiate the SC in vitro to other tissues such as pancreas, chondrocytes and cardiomyocytes among others, in other to become a cell replacement source; however, there are other applications such as gene therapy vehicle for monogenic diseases, or as a vehicle for antitumor therapies. In additions, the induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) technology has allowed human toxicity evaluation of various drugs.

Keywords : Stem cells; pluripotent; multipotent; regeneration.

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