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Cell potency is a cell's ability to differentiate into other cell types. [1] [2] The more cell types a cell can differentiate into, the greater its potency.Potency is also described as the gene activation potential within a cell, which like a continuum, begins with totipotency to designate a cell with the most differentiation potential, pluripotency, multipotency, oligopotency, and finally ...
In the strictest sense, this requires stem cells to be either totipotent or pluripotent—to be able to give rise to any mature cell type, although multipotent or unipotent progenitor cells are sometimes referred to as stem cells.
A stem cell line is a group of stem cells that is cultured in vitro and can be propagated indefinitely. Stem cell lines are derived from either animal or human tissues and come from one of three sources: embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells, or induced pluripotent stem cells. They are commonly used in research and regenerative medicine.
Pluripotent stem cells undergo further specialization into multipotent progenitor cells that then give rise to functional cells. Examples of stem and progenitor cells include: [ citation needed ] Radial glial cells (embryonic neural stem cells) that give rise to excitatory neurons in the fetal brain through the process of neurogenesis .
A stem cell possesses two properties: . Self-renewal is the ability to go through numerous cycles of cell division while still maintaining its undifferentiated state. Stem cells can replicate several times and can result in the formation of two stem cells, one stem cell more differentiated than the other, or two differentiated cells.
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), also known as mesenchymal stromal cells or medicinal signaling cells, are multipotent stromal cells that can differentiate into a variety of cell types, including osteoblasts (bone cells), chondrocytes (cartilage cells), myocytes (muscle cells) and adipocytes (fat cells which give rise to marrow adipose tissue).
Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are pluripotent stem cells derived from the inner cell mass of a blastocyst, an early-stage pre-implantation embryo. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Human embryos reach the blastocyst stage 4–5 days post fertilization , at which time they consist of 50–150 cells.
Stem cells are by definition pluripotent, able to differentiate into several cell types such as neurons, [3] cardiomyocytes, hepatocytes, etc. Efficient directed differentiation requires a detailed understanding of the lineage and cell fate decision, often provided by developmental biology. [2] [4]