There are many different types of stem cells that come from different
places in the body or are formed at different times in our lives.
These include embryonic stem cells that exist only at the earliest
stages of development and various types of ‘tissue-specific’
or ‘adult’ stem cells that appear during fetal development
and remain in our bodies throughout life.
Our bodies use different types of tissue-specific stem cells to fit a
particular purpose. Tissue-specific stem cells are limited in their
potential and largely make the cell types found in the tissue from
which they are derived. For example, the blood-forming stem cells (or
hematopoietic stem cells) in the bone marrow regenerate the blood, while
neural stem cells in the brain make brain cells. A neural stem cell
won’t spontaneously make a blood cell and likewise a hematopoietic
stem cell won’t spontaneously make a brain cell. Thus, it is
unlikely that a single cell type could be used to treat a multitude of
unrelated diseases that involve different tissues or organs. Be wary
of clinics that offer treatments with stem cells that originate
from a part of the body that is different from the part being
treated
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