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stem cells

since the human body has adult stem cells, why can we grow back an arm for example, by regeneration if we lost it??? what is the difference between them and pluripotent embronic stem cells...

Reply 1

Kallisto

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Original post by pondsteps

since the human body has adult stem cells, why can we grow back an arm for example, by regeneration if we lost it??? what is the difference between them and pluripotent embronic stem cells...

Pluripotent stem cells are embryonic, that is to say, they have not a defined tissue and so not a defined function for an organism. Thus pluripotent cells might be everything, they don't belong to an organism till they become adult stem cells. Adult stem cells instead are a part of an organism, so they are also a part of a certain tissue with a defined function. If the organs are damaged, the adult stem cells are healing the organs which they belong to. They are creating new cells then.