Stem Cells Created From Adult Cells

April 18, 2014

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

In a significant breakthrough a team of scientists from California and Seoul, South Korea have been able to create viable stem cells from an adult donor that perfectly match the donors DNA, according to a new report in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

The development, referred to as therapeutic cloning, involves the production of embryonic cells for scientific purposes and many object to this type of research based on moral or religious grounds. Debate over this type of work was stoked in 1997 with the announcement that it was used to create the clone of a sheep, called Dolly. In 2005, the United Nations called for a ban on cloning and the United States government currently prohibits the use of federal dollars for cloning research.

The scientists behind the latest development, which was partially funded by the government of South Korea, acknowledged that if the embryos in their study were implanted in a uterus they could have developed into a fetus.

Without regulations in place, such embryos could also be used for human reproductive cloning, although this would be unsafe and grossly unethical, study author Dr. Robert Lanza, chief scientist of Massachusetts-based biotech Advanced Cell Technology, told Reuters reporter Sharon Begley.

To produce viable stem cells from an adult donor, the researchers first inserted DNA from an adult skin cell into a donated ovum. The scientists then delivered an electric shock to fuse the genetic material to the ovum. Eventually, the ovum divides and multiplies becoming a viable embryo in five or six days. Pluripotent stem cells, which can become any type of cell in the body, are located on the interior of this embryo.

Last year, a team of Oregon scientists reported on their success in combining genetic material from fetal and infant cells with DNA-extracted eggs. The team was able to develop their eggs into approximately 150-cell embryos.

The Oregon team said a major aspect of their success was allowing the engineered eggs to sit for 30 minutes before hitting them with the charge of electricity that like Dr. Frankensteins monster set the eggs on the path to becoming alive.

In the new study, the researchers waited two hours before triggering the egg, which Lanza said allowed them to succeed.

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Stem Cells Created From Adult Cells