Induce Pluripotent Stem d Cells

Before we even begin discussing induced pluripotent stem cells, let's get a closer look at stem cells and pluripotency. To make things easy, stem cells can be understood as blank cells who are yet to be assigned specific biological features, characteristics and physiological functions. After being created as blank canvasses, these cells proceed to undergo mitosis and it is after this that they differentiate into different cell types and go ahead on their own paths to perform their intended biological functions. For instance, among 1,000 stem cells, 500 can differentiate into various types of blood cells (hematopoietic stem cells), 300 can go on to become smooth muscle cells while the remaining 200 can take the shape of lymphatic cells post differentiation.



Now, what type of specialized cell a stem cell goes on to become depends upon it's potency, which is nothing but the differentiation potential of a stem cells. Based upon this criteria, stem cells can be classified as unipotent (a stem cell that can differentiate into only a single type of specialized cells), totipotent (a stem cell that can differentiate into all types of anatomical cells), multipotent (a stem cell that can differentiate into many cells of a limited handful of lineages), oligopotent (a stem cell that can differentiate into very limited types of specific cells) and pluripotent (stem cells that can differentiate into specified cells that make up the three germ layers in an organism - the endoderm, the mesoderm and the ectoderm). If that was clear, then let's move ahead to the next segment and understand what induced pluripotent stem cells are.