Couples who are having problems conceiving a child may sometimes resort to a procedure called in vitro fertilization. This is usually after they have been unsuccessful with artificial insemination. The woman's eggs are harvested and placed into a petri dish and then fertilized with her partner's sperm. The resulting embryos are then implanted into the woman's womb. Unused embryos are frozen and stored until the parents of the embryos decide what should be done with them.
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 very primitive cells that have the potential to differentiate into just about any other cell type in the human body. This property is referred to as pluripotency. These cells are becoming more and more useful in medicine. There is a significant potential for abuse of these cells. For this reason, their use is very closely regulated by governmental authorities.
Scientists at a Utah university first injected stem cells into the hearts of patients as a therapeutic strategy for heart failure. Cells were derived from the patient's bone marrow and then cultured for just short of two weeks. Those that survived in tissue culture became stronger than the patient's original bone marrow. These cells were then placed into the left side of the patients' hearts.
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 the spongy tissue located deep in the center of some of the larger bones in the body, mostly from the pelvic bone. Harvesting stem cells from this location is extremely painful so the donors are placed under a general anesthetic. A large needle is then placed into the marrow via the hip bone and the cells are harvested.
Under normal physiological conditions, peripheral blood does not contain vast numbers of stem cells. Loading the donors with hormonal growth factors leads to a notable increase in the numbers of these cells. Neonatal blood is teeming with stem cells. Those remaining in the umbilical cord are removed and stored at extremely low temperatures, as low as -200 Kelvin and reserved for transplantation at a later date or until the parents decide what to do with them.
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 very primitive cells that have the potential to differentiate into just about any other cell type in the human body. This property is referred to as pluripotency. These cells are becoming more and more useful in medicine. There is a significant potential for abuse of these cells. For this reason, their use is very closely regulated by governmental authorities.
Scientists at a Utah university first injected stem cells into the hearts of patients as a therapeutic strategy for heart failure. Cells were derived from the patient's bone marrow and then cultured for just short of two weeks. Those that survived in tissue culture became stronger than the patient's original bone marrow. These cells were then placed into the left side of the patients' hearts.
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 the spongy tissue located deep in the center of some of the larger bones in the body, mostly from the pelvic bone. Harvesting stem cells from this location is extremely painful so the donors are placed under a general anesthetic. A large needle is then placed into the marrow via the hip bone and the cells are harvested.
Under normal physiological conditions, peripheral blood does not contain vast numbers of stem cells. Loading the donors with hormonal growth factors leads to a notable increase in the numbers of these cells. Neonatal blood is teeming with stem cells. Those remaining in the umbilical cord are removed and stored at extremely low temperatures, as low as -200 Kelvin and reserved for transplantation at a later date or until the parents decide what to do with them.
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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