A photo from open sources
There has been a major breakthrough in the scientific world. If before receiving stem cells was either an ethically controversial procedure, or took months to grow them, now scientists learned to turn old blood cells into stem cells in just 30 minutes – for this it is enough to immerse them in acid.
A team of Japanese researchers came across this method after observations of a similar phenomenon in plants in which external stress can cause ordinary cells to morph into immature ones. Then from of these immature cells, new plants can be grown. Before already it was known that similar processes also occur in birds and reptiles – so the question was only for mammals.
Scientists from the Ricken Development Biology Center began with mice. Having exposed their blood cells to acid, they managed start the transformation process in them. While some cells died, many within a couple of days turned into stem.
This discovery has been peer-reviewed by many other scholars and received reviews as “exceptional” and “revolutionary.” Cause this is that before the issue of obtaining and using stem cells was highly ethically controversial and quite complicated. Previously, scientists received stem cells directly from embryos that destroyed the embryos themselves. In 2006, teams from Japan and Britain have developed a new method in which certain genes forced cells to reprogram themselves, turning them into stem. This discovery received the Nobel Prize in 2012, but this method is also very expensive and long. Other experimental methods are still under development.
A new discovery not only means that we can produce stem cells quickly and cheaply, but can potentially stop ethical debate, as it’s not harm to live embryos. Of course, there are many more research before scientists can fully understand the process and to develop methods for the study and use of stem cells in man.
Plants
