Essentially, stem cells are classified based on how versatile they are, in development and function. In many instances, you may be familiar with terms such as totipotent and multipotent cells as well as the famed pluripotent cells and you may have interchanged them in more than one occasion. To clarify, pluripotent cells are cells that have the potential to generate any cell type such as brain cells or those in the circulation while totipotency is the cell’s capacity to split and modify itself for fetal growth in which egg fertilization is its starting place. As for multipotent cells, they are too specialized and can only produce one cell type. For research, pluripotent cells hold more potential.

What can they do for us? As the pluripotent cells possess the special ability to turn into a different type of cell, it’s possible to coax or turn them into skin cells, blood cells and other cells in the body. It frees the chance to deal with serious diseases and anomalies using the regenerative component such as treating motor dysfunction or heart condition and that’s what decades of research and tests are doing. However, the controversy or ethical dilemma lies in how the cells can be obtained. Experts have come up with some alternatives to harvesting the cells which include collecting them from a lifeless embryo, harvesting them from biopsy procedures or getting the specimen from an artifact or an engineered sample. On the whole, experts are making progress with stem cell research and testing. In fact, it’s one of the crucial and groundbreaking explorations that can help with longevity and people’s quality of life.