- Stem cells can copy themselves and can become other, more specialized cells.
- The main families: embryonic, adult (tissue), reprogrammed (iPS), and umbilical cord cells.
- Cord blood and cord tissue are different sources. Wharton’s jelly is the tissue, not the blood.
Every one of the trillions of cells in your body started from one. Somewhere along the way, cells decided to become skin, bone, blood or nerve, and some of them kept the option open. Those are stem cells.
The term gets thrown around a lot, often by people selling something. So here is a calm, jargon-free tour: what makes a cell a stem cell, the main families, and where the cells used in regenerative medicine fit in.
What makes a cell a stem cell?
Two abilities. First, it can self-renew: divide and make more copies of itself. Second, it can differentiate: turn into more specialized cells, like muscle, bone or blood.
Most of your cells gave up that second option long ago. A skin cell makes skin. A stem cell is still deciding.
What are embryonic stem cells?
They come from embryos a few days old and can become almost any cell type in the body. Scientists call that pluripotent.
That flexibility makes them valuable for research, but hard to control in patients, and their use raises ethical questions many people care about. They are not what regenerative clinics use.
What are adult stem cells?
They live in your tissues all your life, keeping things in repair. Blood-forming stem cells in your bone marrow make new blood cells every day. Others help maintain skin, gut and muscle.
They are more limited, usually becoming cells related to their own tissue. Mesenchymal stem cells belong here: support cells found in bone marrow, fat and the umbilical cord that can form bone, cartilage and fat in the lab.
What are iPS cells?
In 2006, Japanese researchers showed that ordinary adult cells could be reprogrammed back into an embryo-like state by switching on a few genes. They called them induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells.
It earned a Nobel Prize and opened huge research doors, from studying diseases in a dish to testing drugs. Treatments with iPS cells are still at the research stage.
Cord blood or cord tissue: what’s the difference?
This is where many articles get muddled. Cord blood is the blood inside the umbilical cord and placenta, rich in blood-forming cells used in some hospital transplants.
Cord tissue is the cord itself. Its soft, gel-like filling, called Wharton’s jelly, is rich in mesenchymal stem cells.
Same cord, different cells, different uses. Wharton’s jelly cells are the ones Stem Cells Colombia uses.
Are stem cells working in you right now?
Yes, quietly. Your bone marrow makes new blood cells every day, and stem cells in your skin and gut keep those surfaces renewed. When you cut a finger, local stem and support cells help close the gap.
With age, those repair systems slow down, a bit like a crew that shrinks year after year. Regenerative medicine studies whether adding outside cells, and their signals, can help the crew along.
Why do mesenchymal cells matter for treatment?
Beyond what they can become, mesenchymal cells release signals that calm inflammation and help tissues repair. That signaling is the main reason they are studied for joints, the spine and immune-related conditions.
Cells from Wharton’s jelly come from very young tissue and grow well in the lab. For a patient, they also mean no procedure to collect cells from your own body.
- When someone says “stem cells,” ask which kind and from which tissue.
- Know that cord blood and cord tissue are different sources.
- Look for clinics that explain their cells in plain words, without miracle talk.
The basic biology of stem cells is well established, and mesenchymal cells have an agreed definition set by the International Society for Cellular Therapy. Wharton’s jelly cells meet that definition and have been studied in many laboratory and animal models. Clinical use of mesenchymal cells is being tested in human trials, and research is growing across many conditions.
- Minimal criteria for defining multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells. The International Society for Cellular Therapy position statement · Cytotherapy, 2006
- Induction of pluripotent stem cells from mouse embryonic and adult fibroblast cultures by defined factors · Cell, 2006
- Wharton’s jelly-derived cells are a primitive stromal cell population · Stem Cells, 2008
Questions
Are the cells embryonic?
No. Stem Cells Colombia uses mesenchymal stem cells from Wharton’s jelly, the tissue of umbilical cords donated after healthy births. No embryos are involved.
Is cord blood the same as Wharton’s jelly?
No. Cord blood mostly contains blood-forming cells. Wharton’s jelly is the cord tissue, and it is rich in mesenchymal stem cells.
Can stem cells become any part of the body?
Only pluripotent cells, like embryonic and iPS cells, can become almost anything. Mesenchymal cells are more limited and work mostly by sending healing signals.
Is stem cell therapy approved by the FDA?
Stem cell therapy is not approved by the FDA, but in Colombia it is legal.