What about CLONED, embryonic stem cells?

[TADHealth]

I know some people have mentioned morals and religion when trying to figure out what to do scientifically.

Others have countered that the amish way is not for them.
And some of those want to push the evelope even farther regardless of implications.

While the news isn't exactly "new", it does take on a different look with todays climate. A new twist to it all...

There are countless sperms and eggs that are destroyed that never came anywhere close to being 'life".

But the Koreans have done someting radical...

South Korean scientists have announced they cloned several human embryos and managed to extract valuable stem cells from one, an achievement welcomed by scientists but condemned by opponents of embryo research.

The Korean team was not trying to make a baby, but aiming at a technique called therapeutic cloning. It could eventually involve taking a plug of skin or a little blood from a patient and using it to grow perfectly matched tissue, organs or batches of cells. The stem cells taken from the tiny embryos, known as blastocysts, have the potential to develop into any kind of cell or tissue in the body.

These could, in theory, be used to treat diabetes by replacing destroyed pancreatic cells, brain disease such as Parkinson's or Alzheimer's or even to patch a severed spinal cord.

Hwang's team created several clones using eggs and cumulus cells donated by Korean women.

Cumulus cells are found in the ovaries and, in some species, have been found to work especially well in cloning experiments.

The researchers removed the nuclei from the egg cells and replaced them with nuclei from the cumulus cells -- matching each woman's egg cell with her own cumulus cell. The nucleus contains 99 percent of a person's DNA.

Then they used a chemical trigger to start the eggs growing as if they had been fertilized by sperm.

No sperm even invloved. Hell, no males are invloved beyond grandfathering.







[Original info from alertnet.org, but similar links can be found from many sources cnn,msnbc,family.org,abc,cbs,fox,medicalnewtoday, dating back to to Feb 12th 2004]

 

[juiceddreadlocks]

lol, going to have to side iwth becoming on this one. we dont know enough about regenerating dopaminergic neurons to boast of such things as curing alzheimers or anything like that

the possibility for all that is there, but we dont understand the physiology of the processes that control neurodevelopment and regeneration (which does occur in neurons, but mostly in your nose)

 

[TADHealth]

You do realise that they are already curing mice that have severed spinal cords and cannnot walk?

so what exactly are you proposing?

 

[juiceddreadlocks]

You do realise that they are already curing mice that have severed spinal cords and cannnot walk?

so what exactly are you proposing?

yes, spinal cords that have been freshly severed. i know that.

im not proposing anything.

 

[TADHealth]

yes, spinal cords that have been freshly severed. i know that.

im not proposing anything.

no, they have cured mice. fixed a severed spinal cord. caused regeneration and allowed it to walk.

do we proeed or not?

 

[juiceddreadlocks]

no, they have cured mice. fixed a severed spinal cord. caused regeneration and allowed it to walk.

do we proeed or not?

yes, but have they done that for spinal cords which have been severed for several years?

i dont deny what youre saying. i just want an answer

 

[TADHealth]

I was pretty impressed with fixing a severed spinal cord to worry about the time frame of it all. I thought either they can get spinal matter to regen or they can't. Even if age of the injury is a factor, is it just a matter of time before it isnt?

 

[juiceddreadlocks]

I was pretty impressed with fixing a severed spinal cord to worry about the time frame of it all. I thought either they can get spinal matter to regen or they can't. Even if age of the injury is a factor, is it just a matter of time before it isnt?

i dunno. i think age is a pretty big issue, but thats just me. axonoplasmic transport doesnt happen very quickly.