Stem Cell Lines

Embryonic stem cell lines (ES cell lines) are cultures of cells derived from the inner cell mass (ICM) of blastocysts

Blastocysts

A preimplantation embryo

Embryo

Organisms in the early stages of growth and development. In human, “embryo” generally refers to the time from implantation to about eight to twelve weeks after conception.

of about 150 cells produced by cell division following fertilization. The blastocyst is a sphere made up of an outer layer of cells (the trophoblast), a fluid-filled cavity (the blastocoel), and a cluster of cells on the interior (the inner cell mass).

or other early stage post-zygotic structures. These ES cells have an ability to develop into more than 200 different cell types of the adult body when given proper stimulation.

A limited number of human embryonic stem cell lines have been approved for use by scientists receiving federal funds. Those are the lines that existed prior to August 2001, when President Bush banned the use of federal funds to study any lines developed subsequently. Only a few of these lines are usable, since they may be contaminated with mouse feeder cells. The newest techniques allow the derivation of stem cell lines without the use of mouse cells. Also, scientists are finding that there are differences between the lines, which limits the usefulness of some of the existing lines for particular applications.

In addition, the cells currently widely available to researchers are insufficient because they do not allow investigation of the genetic causes of disease (e.g. new cell line that contain genetic diseases in order to study how these diseases affect the growth and development of other cells and tissue), and they are not sufficiently racially or ethnically diverse (e.g. certain diseases are more prevalent in one race).

New cell lines created from fertility treatment discards as well as, in the future, new technologies such as iPS and SCNT,

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SCNT

Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (or Therapeutic cloning) - process of transferring a somatic cell into an enucleated cell.

will expand the scope and practicality of treatments based on embryonic-type stem cell derivatives.