What is Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer?
Somatic cell nuclear transfer involves taking the nucleus of a somatic cell of one individual (which is any diploid cell, therefore not a sperm or ovum cell) and using it to replace the nucleus of an unfertilized egg of another individual.
To do this one first has to obtain the two different cell types needed for the transfer. These are then fused together using an electricity pulse. The artificially fused egg will then continue to divide as if it had been fertilized. Therefore a zygote starts to form, eventually it will reach a stage at which one can extract its stem cells from.
This technique is therefore interesting for medical research involved with embryonic stem cell research, as it is a promising and quickly advancing area for regenerative medicine. We refer to this purpose of the technique as therapeutic cloning.
Embryonic stem cells, are very useful in medicine since they are unspecialized cell, they are totipotent. This means that they can potentially divide into any cell and an endless amount of times. But there are a set of pros and cons regarding the creation and use of embryonic stem cells:
Pros
Using embryonic stem cells can be used to save and improve thousand of patient’s lives. For example using stem cells researchers were able to treat people who suffered from Stargardt’s Disease, which due to a mutation causes the membrane protein used for active transport in retina cells to malfunction, this eventually causes loss of sight. With the use of stem cells doctors have been able to treat these people successfully such that they retained vision and no tumors were formed.
Cons
There is a set of ethical issues involved with using and artificially creating embryonic stem cells. The ethical issues involved are similar to those with abortion. Embryonic cell could, if not used for medical treatment or research, become potential living beings.
There is also a risk of tumor development as stem cells can divide unlimitedly.
Another use of the application of this technique is to actually fully clone an organism. The most famous case of this type of cloning was the creation of Dolly the sheep. The procedure is the same as that for therapeutic cloning, only that the ovum is inserted into the womb of a surrogate mother and left to fully develop into a fetus.
The following image clearly shows you how the process is carried out.
Somatic cell nuclear transfer involves taking the nucleus of a somatic cell of one individual (which is any diploid cell, therefore not a sperm or ovum cell) and using it to replace the nucleus of an unfertilized egg of another individual.
To do this one first has to obtain the two different cell types needed for the transfer. These are then fused together using an electricity pulse. The artificially fused egg will then continue to divide as if it had been fertilized. Therefore a zygote starts to form, eventually it will reach a stage at which one can extract its stem cells from.
This technique is therefore interesting for medical research involved with embryonic stem cell research, as it is a promising and quickly advancing area for regenerative medicine. We refer to this purpose of the technique as therapeutic cloning.
Embryonic stem cells, are very useful in medicine since they are unspecialized cell, they are totipotent. This means that they can potentially divide into any cell and an endless amount of times. But there are a set of pros and cons regarding the creation and use of embryonic stem cells:
Pros
Using embryonic stem cells can be used to save and improve thousand of patient’s lives. For example using stem cells researchers were able to treat people who suffered from Stargardt’s Disease, which due to a mutation causes the membrane protein used for active transport in retina cells to malfunction, this eventually causes loss of sight. With the use of stem cells doctors have been able to treat these people successfully such that they retained vision and no tumors were formed.
Cons
There is a set of ethical issues involved with using and artificially creating embryonic stem cells. The ethical issues involved are similar to those with abortion. Embryonic cell could, if not used for medical treatment or research, become potential living beings.
There is also a risk of tumor development as stem cells can divide unlimitedly.
Another use of the application of this technique is to actually fully clone an organism. The most famous case of this type of cloning was the creation of Dolly the sheep. The procedure is the same as that for therapeutic cloning, only that the ovum is inserted into the womb of a surrogate mother and left to fully develop into a fetus.
The following image clearly shows you how the process is carried out.
There are a lot of skeptics regarding fully cloning a living being, especially if it should ever come to cloning a human. Lots of people feel that it stepping a step to far and that by selectively cloning people we are playing God. Personally I do not agree with the fact that there is an issue with God as I do not believe in that divine figures, but I do agree that in a sense we are taking a step to far because we are playing with nature. Who we genetically become is determined by which egg and sperm fertilize together. If we interfere with this then one might argue that cloned being are unnatural. Also, by genetically selecting and modifying our offspring, we would reduce and unbalance the human genetic pool.
Another negative aspect with cloning are not only the ethics, but also the fact that it is a big step in the unknown. This would be a big step in human evolution and we don’t have any information to know the possible dangerous consequences involved with it.
Another negative aspect with cloning are not only the ethics, but also the fact that it is a big step in the unknown. This would be a big step in human evolution and we don’t have any information to know the possible dangerous consequences involved with it.