Resumo

HERNANDEZ RAMIREZ, Porfirio  e  DORTICOS BALEA, Elvira. Regenerative medicine: Embryonic and adult stem cells. Rev Cubana Hematol Inmunol Hemoter [online]. 2004, vol.20, n.3, pp. 0-0. ISSN 1561-2996.

In the last few years, there has emerged a new branch of medicine called regenerative medicine based mainly on the new knowledge about stem cells and their capacity to turn into cells of different tissues. Stem cells are classified into embryonic cells and somatic or adult cells. For many years, it was believed that hematopoietic stem cell was the only one with regenerative capacity in the bone-marrow. However, recent studies have shown that the composition of the bone marrow is more complex an heterogeneous group of adult stem cells such as hematopoietic, mesenchymal (stromal), lateral population and multipotent adult progenitor cells have been identified there. Several studies suggested that the potential of some types of adult stem cells is greater than expected since they have shown their capacity to differentiate into cells of various lineages under certain conditions, which means that their potential is very close to that of the embryonic cells. This has given rise to new prospects for the treatment of a number of diseases with adult stem cells that it was thought to be possible only with the embryonic cells

Palavras-chave : regenerative medicine; stem cells; cell plasticity; transdifferentiation.