What is the difference between multipotent pluripotent and totipotent cells

The distinctions are important both for understanding our own biology and for stem cell clinical trials. Here at The Niche is a great place to learn about these stem cell types because my own lab, the Knoepfler lab at UC Davis School of Medicine, routinely grows stem cells. I have a whole post on totipotent stem cells so I encourage you to dig into that. Totipotent stem cells can make any other kind of cell in the body.

So, for example, totipotent stem cells can make more of themselves or pluripotent stem cells. They can also make the entire embryo that will develop into the final organism, whether it is a person, an elephant or a mouse.

The best example of totipotent cells is the fertilized egg or zygote 1-cell embryo. See an image of totipotent stem cell-containing human embryos above. Finally, these cells can also make the placenta and umbilical cord that are so important for development. What are pluripotent stem cells?

These are the next most powerful stem cells and are sometimes called PSCs. They can form the entire embryo of a developing organism. However, unlike totipotent cells, PSCs cannot form placenta and umbilical cord.

They also cannot make totipotent stem cells. The two most well-known types of PSCs are embryonic stem cells see a primer on them here and induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells. You can learn more about iPS cells here. You might enjoy my video on embryonic stem cells below too. PSCs are involved in a number of clinical trials. I expect many more trials in coming years. Multipotent stem cells make up just about all other kinds of stem cells beyond the first two types.

It is thought that most if not all of the different organs and tissue types in the human body have some population of multipotent stem cells. These are present to help maintain the tissues and in some cases respond to injury by making more cells. There is still some debate about whether the heart has true stem cells in it or not. Where they do exist, pure adult stem cells are hard to isolate.

See an image of MSCs above. There are hundreds of clinical trials ongoing with multipotent stem cells so there is real promise here. A few have even been approved in different countries. A cautionary note. Other offerings have no living cells of any kind in them.

There are risks to consider. Check out what the FDA has to say about this. For some types of therapies, for instance, adult stem cells are going to be ideally suited and they have a low risk of causing cancer as a side effect.

Instead, they will be made into more specialized cells like beta cells of the pancreas, retinal cells of the eye, or nervous system cells. Then those differentiated cells will be transplanted. Difference between pluripotent and multipotent is confusing at present. Pluripotent stem cells imply differentiation into 3 lineages ecto-, endo- and mesoderm Multipotent stem cells has nothing to do with distinct lineages … MSCs differentiate into osteoblasts, chondrocytes and adipocytes all mesoderm lineages Similarly, HSCs differentiate into lymphocytes, neutrophils, basophils, eosinophils, platelets, RBCs Both MSCs and HSCs are lineage restricted but are termed multipotent nothing to do with pluripotent.

Unsurprisingly, they like to differentiate into neurons, glia, and other similar cells. In short, multipotent stem cells are more specialized in nature than totipotent or pluripotent stem cells. Below, I summarize these simple differences between totipotent, pluripotent and multipotent stem cells. Remember, the key differences are when each cell type appears during human development and to what degree they can become other mature cell types. Do you have other questions about the difference between totipotent, pluripotent, and multipotent?

Cade Hildreth is the Founder of BioInformant. Home » What is the difference between totipotent, pluripotent, and multipotent? The key differences between these cells are: When each appears during the process of human development. Totipotent Stem Cells Totipotent stem cells are the most versatile stem cell type, because they are formed shortly after fertilization of an egg cell by a sperm cell.

Cells from any tissue are genetically engineered to behave like embryonic stem cells. Adult aka Somatic aka Tissue-Specific. Also hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow that create multipotent stem cells capable of making many blood and immune cells.

Still controversial but thought to be found within some tumors. While many aspects of stem cells remain a mystery, one thing is for sure, this is a very exciting field that is sure to produce many more fascinating insights into how our bodies work and explore new possible treatments that only science fiction writers have come close to creating!

Tags: cell types , iPSCs. TempoBlog Company. Posted By Olwen Reina , On The list of uses for stem cells goes on! To recap, the definition of a stem cell is a cell that can: Self-renew: the ability to create more copies of itself. Create other cell-types: divide to create cells that mature into cells with specific function in the body.

Embryonic Almost here referring to becoming any cells except placenta or umbilical cord cells.