• Stem cells are unspecialised cells and have the ability to renew themselves and differentiate into a diverse range of cell types.
• Based on the potency, the stem cells can be classified into totipotent, pluripotent, multipotent or unipotent cells.
• Totipotent stem cells have the ability to differentiate into all cell types of an organism.
• Pluripotent stem cells have the potential to differentiate into almost all cell types of the embryo except the cells of the extra embryonic support tissues.
• The multipotent cells have ability to differentiate into a closely related family of cells.
• Based on the sources, the stem cells are divided into early (or embryonic) stem cells and mature (or adult) stem cells.
• The early stem cells (embryonic stem cells) are present in the inner cell mass of a blastocyst.
Adult stem cells are undifferentiated totipotent or multipotent cells and are found in specific mature body tissues as well as the umbilical cord and placenta after birth.
• Stem cells have the potential to treat a number of diseases including cancer, Type 1 diabetes mellitus, Parkinson’s disease, cardiac diseases, neurological disorders, etc.
• Development of a part of an organ or the whole organ itself from tissue culture techniques are termed as organ culture.
• The most important advantage of organ culture is that the whole three-dimensional structure of the organ can be recreated.
• The important characteristics of organ culture are — structural integrity, nutrient and gas exchange, growth and differentiation.
• The types of organ culture are — whole embryo culture, histotypic culture and organotypic culture.
• The organ culture helps to study the actual behaviour of a tissue in an in vitro system as well as to understand the biochemical and functional characteristics of an organ or tissue and their comparison with that of the similar organs, in vivo, in an easier way.
• Organ culture helps in understanding the developmental biology and interaction in tissues.