When couples have difficulty conceiving a child by any other means, including artificial insemination, they may decide to try in vitro fertilization. In this process, the woman's eggs may be fertilized in the laboratory; the resulting embryos are then implanted into her uterus. Unused embryos that do not get implanted remain the responsibility of the parents from whose cells they are derived.
After fertilization has taken place, the extra embryos are frozen and stored. Today's techniques for freezing this tissue enable these tissues to retain their viability for a matter of years. The parents can decide to leave them in storage, donate them for medical research, hand them over to other couples who are having difficulty conceiving by any other means, or they may keep storing them until they decide their fate or elect to have them sent for destruction.
Stem cells are undifferentiated cells at an early stage of development. They have the potential to differentiate into other types o f mature cell. This is referred to as pluripotency. Stem cells are becoming increasingly useful as a medical treatment for all sorts of conditions. Because this procedure is open to serious abuse, it is tightly regulated.
Researchers at the University of Utah pioneered the procedure whereby a patient's own stem cells are injected into their left ventricle in an attempt to treat heart failure. At this point, they are called cardiac repair cells. They are derived from the patient's bone marrow and then cultured for just under fortnight, after which they are implanted into the heart. It turns out these cells are much hardier than the original cells that were harvested from the bone marrow.
The very first stem cells to be isolated came from mice in 1981. They were consequently harvested from humans in 1998. There are other sources of this material other than human embryos. For one thing, they may come from the bone marrow. They may also be isolated from peripheral blood or from neonatal umbilical cords.
Bone marrow is located deep inside the large bones of the body; specifically, the pelvic bone. Getting to these cells is a highly painful procedure so it is commonly accomplished with the use of a general anesthetic. Then, a large-bore needle is used to draw the cells via the hip bone.
Typically, peripheral blood is not endowed with a plethora of stem cells. In this case, patients are prepared by giving them hormones called growth factors. This takes place a few days prior to harvesting. The actual collection process may take hours. Newborn blood is also rich in these cells. Some remain in the umbilical cord, which is set aside for future transplantation. To date, human umbilical cord cells have only been transplanted into small adults and children.
Once the parents are sure they do not want any more children, there are a number of things they can decide to do with the extra embryos. They may donate them for research, discard them or allow them to be passed on to other childless couples who are unable to conceive by other methods.
After fertilization has taken place, the extra embryos are frozen and stored. Today's techniques for freezing this tissue enable these tissues to retain their viability for a matter of years. The parents can decide to leave them in storage, donate them for medical research, hand them over to other couples who are having difficulty conceiving by any other means, or they may keep storing them until they decide their fate or elect to have them sent for destruction.
Stem cells are undifferentiated cells at an early stage of development. They have the potential to differentiate into other types o f mature cell. This is referred to as pluripotency. Stem cells are becoming increasingly useful as a medical treatment for all sorts of conditions. Because this procedure is open to serious abuse, it is tightly regulated.
Researchers at the University of Utah pioneered the procedure whereby a patient's own stem cells are injected into their left ventricle in an attempt to treat heart failure. At this point, they are called cardiac repair cells. They are derived from the patient's bone marrow and then cultured for just under fortnight, after which they are implanted into the heart. It turns out these cells are much hardier than the original cells that were harvested from the bone marrow.
The very first stem cells to be isolated came from mice in 1981. They were consequently harvested from humans in 1998. There are other sources of this material other than human embryos. For one thing, they may come from the bone marrow. They may also be isolated from peripheral blood or from neonatal umbilical cords.
Bone marrow is located deep inside the large bones of the body; specifically, the pelvic bone. Getting to these cells is a highly painful procedure so it is commonly accomplished with the use of a general anesthetic. Then, a large-bore needle is used to draw the cells via the hip bone.
Typically, peripheral blood is not endowed with a plethora of stem cells. In this case, patients are prepared by giving them hormones called growth factors. This takes place a few days prior to harvesting. The actual collection process may take hours. Newborn blood is also rich in these cells. Some remain in the umbilical cord, which is set aside for future transplantation. To date, human umbilical cord cells have only been transplanted into small adults and children.
Once the parents are sure they do not want any more children, there are a number of things they can decide to do with the extra embryos. They may donate them for research, discard them or allow them to be passed on to other childless couples who are unable to conceive by other methods.
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