Abstract
Stem cells play a major role in human development, and postnatal tissues homeostasis, and repair. Therefore, they are considered as significant building blocks for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications. Stem cells receive important cues from their natural microenvironment, the niche, which determine each stem cell's behavior and fate decision. The stem cell niche is composed of physico-chemical and cellular elements, which could originate from local or distant tissues, or from sources external to the body. In addition to the niche, the behavior of stem cells may be explained by their normal process of development. Therefore, an understanding of stem cells niche, the initial stages of development and sources and origins of stem cells is necessary to facilitate the design of protocols for the use of stem cells in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. When these protocols involve in vitro manipulation of stem cells, the elements of niche components are usually used as the major players including soluble factors, extracellular matrix components, physical factors, and cells from other lineages. Also, the recently defined concepts of transdifferentiation and reprogramming have opened new possibilities for generation of further cell sources, especially from autologous tissues. There are, however, still many gaps in the knowledge of in vivo and in vitro stem cell biology, and in understanding the mechanisms of a number of diseases which will benefit from stem cell therapy. Filling these gaps will permit the progression from stem cells research to clinical applications.
Original language | American English |
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Title of host publication | Principles Of Tissue Engineering, 4th Edition |
Subtitle of host publication | Fourth Edition |
Editors | R Lanza, R Langer, J Vacanti |
Publisher | Elsevier Inc. |
Pages | 41-55 |
Number of pages | 15 |
ISBN (Print) | 9780123983589 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2014 |
Keywords
- Adult stem cells
- Cell differentiation
- Cell transdifferentiation
- Embryonic stem cells
- Extracellular matrix
- Fetal stem cells
- Hematopoietic stem cells
- Induced pluripotent stem cells
- Mesenchymal stem cells
- Nuclear reprogramming
- Stem cell niche
- Stem cells