stem cells - california institute for regenerative ….pptVIP

What makes stem cells unique? * At the beginning of embryonic development, stem cells undergo symmetric cell division. They divide symmetrically, where one cell splits and gives rise to two identical cells that have the same potential. This is why we said the stem cells in the early embryo remain the same and are identical. Interestingly, this is also how fully mature cells in your body divide. What’s the technical term for this that you guys probably learned in biology? (wait) MITOSIS! * Then at blastocyst formation and gastrulation the stem cells start to divide asymmetrically. When these stem cells divide, they give rise to two cells that are different from each other. One of the cells remains a stem cell—the yellow one—and the other changes into a progenitor cell—the green square. That progenitor cell is a young cell that will change into a mature cell type, like the epithelial cell in green. Asymmetric cell division is when a stem cell divides to produce two cells that are different from each other. CLICK! One of the cells remains a stem cell, demonstrating self-renewal, and the other CLICK! differentiates into a progenitor cell. * Ok so that stem cell divided to produce a green progenitor cell which differentiates into a green skin cell (CLICK!). That stem cell can divide again, this time producing a different type of progenitor cell CLICK! which matures into yet another cell type, CLICK! like this brain cell. OK so what makes a stem cell unique? (wait for answers) FIRST: it maintains its own population—self-renewal—and SECOND: its capacity to give rise to different progenitors that change into a mature cell—differentiation. * * There are THOUSANDS of HUMAN embryonic stem cells growing in this circular colony. The HUMAN embryonic stem cells are grown on top of MOUSE feeder cells—the elongated cells—which provide essential nutrients. When we culture embryonic stem cells, we are trying to stop the majority of the colony from differentiating so that we can