Regenerative medicine and tissue engineering: contribution of stem cells in organ transplantation.

摘要

Regenerative medicine is a rapidly evolving field that focuses on harnessing the infinite self-renewal capacity of stem cells and their ability to differentiate into various lineages under appropriate conditions, to provide effective treatment for a range of diseases. This involves the repair or regeneration of cells, tissue or organs to restore impaired function. Embryonic stem cells (ESCs), originally isolated from mice in 1981 and later from human embryos in 1998, have high self-renewal potential, a limitless capacity of proliferation and are pluripo-tent, that is they can differentiate into all three embryonic germ layers. These cells have tremendous potential in tissue engineering; however, their use is hampered by ethical, legal and scientific considerations. On the contrary, nonembryonic stem cells or adult stem cells are multipotent, that is they give rise to progenitors with more restricted lineage potential and can be derived from several sources including bone marrow, umbilical cord tissue, amniotic fluid, fat tissue, skin, retina and central nervous system.