The Amazing Mesenchymal Stem Cell | QUANTITATIVE MEDICINE

The body has a variety of stem and progenitor cells that can morph into regular every-day cells. Most have a restricted repertoire. It seems, though, that mesenchymal cells can become a large variety of tissue types. This has great importance for replacement and repair of damaged organs and joints.

Some of our cells are permanent: neurons and muscle being good examples, and some renew, like skin, and the intestines. The ones that renew, wear out. To make sure the new cells are fresh and whole, thay are made from stem cells or progenitor cells. Such cells are usually protected. Read all about stem cells here.

The potency of a stem cell refers to its ability to generate other sorts of cells. The most potent is the fertilized egg. It, quite clearly, can generate every possible cell in our body. It is called toti-potent.

None of the stem cells in an adult are that powerful. At least in vertebrates: . crustaceans stem cells are more stemmylobsters can regenerate all sorts of thingsclaws, eyes, etc. But for humans, the stem cells are limited, some very much so. The ones that generate intestines, for instance, can generate only the four types of cells the intestines need, and, of course, copies of themselves.

Why such limits you might ask? The answer, most likely, is cancer prevention. Cancer is out of control cell proliferation, so it would be a good evolutionary development to try to build some brakes onto this sort of thing. The final cells, skin or intestinal, cant divide at all. A cancer cant really start there; it has to start in the stem cells. The stem cells that get the most exposure to lifes varying ordeals are the skin and intestine. The stem cells there are quite limited, and have even been stripped of their lofty stem title, and are called lowly progenitor cells.

I think most of us would agree that the most protected areas in the body are inside the bones. Theres no ultraviolet light, no caustic digestion, no pushing, no poking, or other unpleasantries going on. It should come as no surprise then, that in the middle of bonesthe marroware found cauldrons of stem cells. And these are no minor progenitor cells either. With all the protection the bones afford, they are allowed to keep a lot of their potency.

One type makes blood cells, both red and white. The white, also called leukocytes, are the bodys police force and come in many different types.

The other stem cell residing in the bone is the mesenchymal cell. This ones day job is bones and cartilage. Thats only a hand full of cells, so why does it have the coveted stem cell status?

It seems that the mesenchymal, in spite of its limited duties, can make a huge variety of other cells:

These mesenchymal cells deliver a triple surprise. The first, of course, is that they can become all these seemingly different cells. Different in both function and shape. The other surprise is that it knows what to do. The third, is that it seems to be able to find the spot where it is needed and install itself. Something summons it and triggers it. In the lung research, the researchers simply injected mesenchymal cells into an artery. The cells circulated everywhere, but found the damaged lungs, settled there, and grew new lung tissue.

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The Amazing Mesenchymal Stem Cell | QUANTITATIVE MEDICINE