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#stem cell functions

3 public questions tagged with this topic.

Stem Cell -ll

Which of the following is NOT a function of stem cells?

Stem cells actively participate in tissue development, continuous renewal, repair after injury, and homeostatic maintenance through balanced self-renewal and differentiation, secreting trophic and immunomodulatory factors that modulate niche environment and immune response. Apoptosis is programmed cell death executed by intrinsic and extrinsic caspase cascade leading to orderly elimination of damaged, redundant, or infected cells, characterized by membrane blebbing, chromatin condensation, DNA fragmentation, and phagocytic clearance without inflammation. It is not a constructive synthetic func

Ref: Fuchs & Blau, Cell Stem Cell 2020; Gilbert, Chapter 6: Stem cell functions regeneration versus apoptosis distinction.

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Stem Cell -lll

Adult stem cells are primarily responsible for:

Adult stem cells persist postnatally within specialized niches such as bone marrow, intestinal crypts, and hair follicle bulge. Unlike embryonic stem cells that construct the entire organism, these tissue-resident populations maintain homeostasis by replacing short-lived differentiated cells lost to turnover, injury, or mechanical stress. Through balanced self-renewal and lineage commitment governed by Wnt, Notch, BMP and local growth factors, they generate transit-amplifying progenitors that restore epithelia, blood, muscle, and neural lineages, ensuring long-term repair without forming extra

Ref: Gilbert, Developmental Biology, 12th ed., Chapter 6: Adult stem cells, niche maintenance and tissue repair mechanisms.

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Stem Cell -lll

Which of the following is NOT a function of stem cells?

Physiological stem roles encompass tissue regeneration after injury via symmetric expansion and mobilization, differentiation into specialized cells replenishing turnover, secretion of trophic factors modulating inflammation, angiogenesis and niche, and maintaining homeostatic equilibrium between loss and production. Apoptosis constitutes programmed death mediated by caspase cascade eliminating damaged or unwanted cells, opposite of stem survival function. Stem cells evade apoptosis through Bcl2 and niche PI3K-Akt signals; apoptosis eliminates not generates derivatives. Therefore apoptosis is

Ref: Lanza et al., Essentials of Stem Cell Biology, 3rd ed., Chapter 5: Functions of Stem Cells.

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