For cells that hold so much promise, stem cells' potential has so far gone largely untapped. But new research from Rockefeller University and Howard Hughes Medical Institute scientists now shows that adult stem cells taken from skin can be used to clone mice using a procedure called nuclear transfer.
Using a technique called nuclear transfer, mice were cloned using adult skin stem cells and a more differentiated type of skin cell The mouse on the right is almost two years old and the mouse on the right is one and a half.
According to senior co-author Elaine Fuchs, the Rebecca Lance field Professor at Rockefeller and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator: “Scientists are well-aware that tissue derived from someone else's embryonic stem cells would be recognized as foreign and rejected by the patient. And this is one of the reasons why scientists have focused so much attention toward using nuclear transfer, which would allow us to use adult stem cells from the same patient rather than those harvested from an unrelated embryo."”
Embryonic stem cells have received the most press for their potential to generate healthy cells and tissues that could replace damaged or diseased organs.
A main hurdle in nuclear transfer with adult cells has been its efficiency -- out of a hundred attempts, only a handful may succeed -- with reported success rates never reaching into double digits.
ScienceDaily
from:http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/02/070212173432.htm
by:Jie Tao (s4195878)
