Genetics; Stem Cells! (Biology)
...se, diabetes and heart disease in the future. 2. Benefits of stem cell research More than 2% of the population over the age of 65 suffer the effects of Parkinson’s Disease The very common neurodegenerative disorder is caused by a loss of dopamine, leading to tremor, rigidity and hypokinesia. To put it simply the progressive degeneration of muscles in people with the disease causes abnormally decreased mobility. Scientists directed mouse embryonic stem cells to differentiate into dopamine neurons, when these were transplanted into a mouse’s brain, which was affected with Parkinson’s disease, dopamine was released and improved motor function occurred. Clearly, due to this research, in the near future sufferers of Parkinson’s disease may benefit greatly from this break through in stem cell research. Another process that has been discovered by scientists is one that causes embryonic stem cells to develop into ovarian structures containing eggs. Although the result has not been demonstrated since, scientists showed embryonic cells spontaneously develop into structures containing eggs. This occurred when they were kept in a culture containing foetal calf serum. Further studies are required to see if the ovarian like structures are capable of maturing and participating in fertilization and embryo development. This breakthrough would also prove rather beneficial in the sense that the process could be used to develop eggs for sterile women that contain the women’s own genetic material at some stage in the future. 3. Other contributing factors Stem cell research is a very delicate part of social and political ground to be dealt with, this is because people have very strong beliefs for it. The reason as to why it’s such a delicate issue is because stem cell research scientists are working with the very basis of life, to which many people would believe life is too much a precious thing to be “wasted”. The arguments for and against are hard to decipher, as we will “kill” one potential life for the sole purpose of research for curing thousands of people suffering from diseases and such. However this doesn’t change the fact that there is a large portion of people who think that the methods of removing stem cells are inhumane and uncouth. Today, the embryo can be seen in 3 different lights. Scientists see the early embryo as just a ball of cells and nothing more. The Roman Catholic Church see the embryo has having full status of humanity, as they believe that from conce...