• Question: why are stem cells called stem cells they're not plants?

    Asked by jemmastacey12 to MarkF, Mark, Michael, Panos, Sarah on 16 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Panos Soultanas

      Panos Soultanas answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      I don’t know really. but since stem cells can become any kind of cell I guess the term stem may be appropriate i.e. they are stemming in different directions to become different types of cells…

    • Photo: Sarah Burl

      Sarah Burl answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Although I have worked with stem cells I don’t actually know the answer to this. I suspect it is based on the fact that many cells can come from one stem cell and so it is like a plant stem that has many branches!

    • Photo: Mark Fogg

      Mark Fogg answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      The word ‘stem’ is another way of saying undifferentiated. A Stem Cell is a cell that, as yet, has no specific role defined for it to carry out, but it has the potential to do so. When it receives the right signal it will become a specific type of cell, say a liver cell or kidney cell or a blood cell etc. The stem of a flower, is similarly the undifferentiated part of a flower, It isn’t the flower itself, or the leaves or the roots, but at certain points along the stem, a signal has caused cells in the stem to become a flower, or a leaf or a root.

    • Photo: Michael Loughlin

      Michael Loughlin answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      I would imagine because evidence that not differentiated cells existed that could be changed into a number of different cells was first proven/observed in plant Stems

      certainly plant cells have that ability to be changed into a support cell ( lignified xylem) or photosynthetic leaf cell depending what is needed

    • Photo: Mark Travis

      Mark Travis answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Good question. Stem cells are cells from which a lot of other cells can originate from, or ‘stem’ from. So, it is an analogy to plant stems- a number of different cells can arise from the stem cell, akin to shoots coming from the stem of a plant.

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