Types of Adult Stem Cells

A virtual treasure chest of precious healing jewels are contained locked away in the inside of your body just waiting for someone to pop oven the door and release them. Once released, these precious jewels spread around in your body to heal areas of your body that are hurting, are damaged, are inflammed or are lacking oxygen and a poor blood supply. This treasure chest is in the inside of your bones. You know that the bone marrow is the most vital part of your wellbeing. It is here that stem cells hide away from the hustle and bustle of normal metabolism hiding from the toxins and poisons that affect the rest of the body. Stem cells hide deep inside the bones to keep the stem cells in a pristine, pure state so that when they are asked to repair some damaged tissue they can do so with the most accurate blueprint possible. Unfortunately, the body signals for calling out these treasures does not operate efficiently and so full and complete repair of damage does not normally occur especially as we get older. It is then when it is important to call forth these special healing jewels by a bone marrow aspiration and to spread them around by giving them back into the body by an intravenous injection.

Adult stem cells from bone marrow (and umbilical cord blood) have the ability to produce a wide variety of cells types, including blood cells, bone cells, liver cells, kidney cells and even brain cells. Stem cells from the bone marrow are a part of the body's natural process for repairing and replacing damaged tissue throughout the body. Bone marrow transplants from one person to another (called an allogeneic transplant) have been used for cancer patients for over 50 years. When bone marrow stem cells are extracted from a person and then infused back into that person's bloodstream (called an autologous transplant), no immune suppressants are needed to reduce graft versus host reactions. Autologous bone marrow treatments are therefore an exciting development in stem cell therapy because they show great promise NOW for treating a great variety of chronic health disorders.

Adult stem cells from umbilical cord blood and bone marrow grow into mature cell types that make up all of your body's blood, bones, tissues and organs. These stem cells contain within them the characteristic shapes and specialized structures and functions of a particular tissue - but they aren't so limited as previously thought. You may still find sources saying that the origin of adult stem cells in mature tissues is unknown, while those who are actively studying stem cells now know that most of the stem cells are in place at birth from primitive stem cells - like those from the neural crest for neurons. The following are examples of differentiation pathways of adult stem cells:

Hematopoietic stem cells [HSCs] form blood cells (red blood cells, B lymphocytes, T lymphocytes, natural killer cells, neutrophils, basophils, eosinophils, monocytes, macrophages, and platelets) and immune cells. This is where you find CD34+ cells which have the capability to self-renew and are able to differentiate into a variety of specialized cell types as well as mobilize out of the bone marrow and into the circulation. HSCs are used to as therapy for all types of cancer, inherited blood disorders like anemia and Thalassemia. HSCs are used to as therapy for autoimmune disorders like diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. So far, HSCs have proven to be anti-tumor.

Hematopoietic stem cells may differentiate into: three major types of brain cells (neurons, oligodendrocytes, and astrocytes); skeletal muscle cells; cardiac muscle cells; and liver cells.

Hematopoietic stem cells form the type of blood cells called Bone marrow stromal cells also called mesenchymal stem cells. Mesenchymal stem cells give rise to a variety of cell types: bone cells (osteocytes), cartilage cells (chondrocytes), fat cells (adipocytes), and other kinds of connective tissue cells such as those in tendons.

Bone marrow stromal cells may differentiate into: cardiac muscle cells and skeletal muscle cells.

Neural stem cells in the brain give rise to its three major cell types: nerve cells (neurons) and two categories of non-neuronal cells-astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. Brain stem cells may differentiate into: blood cells and skeletal muscle cells.

Epithelial stem cells in the lining of the digestive tract and then give rise to several cell types: absorptive cells, goblet cells, Paneth cells, and enteroendocrine cells.

Skin stem cells (epidermal and follicular) occur in the basal layer of the epidermis and at the base of hair follicles. The epidermal stem cells give rise to keratinocytes, which migrate to the surface of the skin and form a protective layer. The follicular stem cells can give rise to both the hair follicle and to the epidermis.

We have discovered that many different kinds of adult stem cells exist and can be isolated from umbilical cord blood and adult bone marrow. These different types of progenitor stem cells can be isolated, grown in tissue culture and used to treat diseased and damaged specific organs with specific stem cells. In fact, over the past seven years, technologies have been developed that isolate different types of progenitor stem cells from umbilical cord blood in addition to very primitive-almost embryonic-types of stem cells. Thus the stem cells are by their nature able to home in on the affected tissue that needs therapy.