Embryonic stem cells age in the laboratory

2005/12/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Medikuntza

Stem cells extracted from embryos can be very useful in therapeutic medicine. Therefore, to carry out research, scientists must keep them alive for years in the laboratory. They age. At Johns Hopkins University in the United States, this aging has been investigated with cells offered by groups from different parts of the world. In general, the longer they remain stored, the more genetic changes occur: mutations, methylations, gene duplications, etc. Scientists still do not know what consequences these changes have on the functioning of stem cells.