#totipotent

[charliefooks]

Getting my head around stem cells totipotent, pluripotent, multipotent

[itsseriouswarningsassorted]

shut the door

I: warning

it, who does not listen: I care not

I: faithless one your breaths cease soon

[englishlistwords]

Totipotent

adjective

BIOLOGY

(of an immature or stem cell) capable of giving rise to any cell type or (of a blastomere) a complete embryo. "totipotent embryo cells can differentiate into a hundred different cell types specialized to form such tissues as skin, marrow, and muscle"

[scrambledbooks]

A Reaction To Local Circumstances

We can see this again in how the individual developmental trajectory of our lives replays or reenacts the nature of cellular ontogeny. We have to come into the world culturally totipotent, or individually capable of enough flexibility in our ontogeny to inhabit and make use of the body we have been calling the cultural survival vehicle, and without knowing in advance what it will be like. Like the cells that construct the early part of our embryonic lives, we come into the world not committed to any particular fate. And like them, we acquire a language, customs, beliefs, and specializations as we go, in response to local circumstances. Some of us become lawyers, others artists or boatmakers, construction workers, salespeople, or mechanics. The local circumstances that influence our fates could be as simple as a local shortage of a particular skill, the presence of a teacher, something our parents told us or something about the labels they attached to us, or a current demand, such as the requirements that impending warfare might bring. The societies that emerge from this process, like an old building, are potentially immortal as we come and go, but the structure remains intact. Like cells committed to a particular fate, once we have committed to a specialization in life, it can be difficult to return us to an earlier time of our lives when we had more options. Programs to teach people new trades or skills are like attempts to restore a cell’s totipotency or pluripotency, and just as it is difficult to reprogram cells, sayings like “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” remind us that it becomes far harder to learn a new trade or some new physical skill, or even a second language, later in life. ========== Wired for Culture: Origins of the Human Social Mind (Mark Pagel)

[vascularbiology]

Stem Cell Overview - Elaine Fuchs (Rockefeller/HHMI)

Stem cells have both the capacity to self-renew, that is, to divide and create additional stem cells, and also to differentiate along a specified molecular pathway. Embryonic stem cells are very nearly totipotent, reserving the elite privileges of choosing among most if not all of the differentiation pathways that specify the animal. In contrast, stem cells that reside within an adult organ or tissue have more restricted options, often able to select a differentiation program from only a few possible pathways, which still can make them valuable for tissue regeneration in a clinical setting. In this talk, the differences between embryonic and adult stem cells, the controversies involved, and their potential for regenerative medicine are discussed.

[giantfideli]

Scientists have discovered that they can make embryonic stem cells regress to a stage of development where they are able to make placenta cells as well as the other foetal cells. This significant discovery has the potential to shed new light on placenta related disorders that can lead to problematic pregnancies and miscarriages.