if you have grown a stem cell into an arm cell, for example, would it be the same colour, form, shape, weight etc. of a

Question: if you have grown a stem cell into an arm cell, for example, would it be the same colour, form, shape, weight etc. of a normal arm cell that a normal person has?
- Keywords:
  arm,
  cell,
  colour,
  grown,
  person,
  shape,
  stem,
  weight
Asked by ninjasaurus to Emma, James, Jayne, Kara, Sharon on 18 Mar 2011 in Categories: Stem Cells.
- Sharon Sneddon answered on 17 Mar 2011:
  
  hi ninjasaurus,
  In the case of the liver and the testis, when we change stem cells into these cell types they look quite similar, but not exactly like “real” liver and testis stem cells. They are oftehn a slightly different shape and size, but they behave like the real version and more importantly, they have the right genes switched on. What we don;t know is how they would behave if we put them back in the liver or the testicle, maybe being in the right place alongside other cells would make them look exactly the same.
  
  On the other hand, some nerve cells created from stem cells DO look pretty much like normal nerve cells!
  I’m not sure about all the other cell types, but maybe the other scientists do!
- Emma King answered on 18 Mar 2011:
  
  Hi ninjasaurus – yes I think it should have if we get it right – but the cell will have the characteristics of the person who donated it. So that might make a difference to things like skin colour if we are talking about growing skin cells.
  It’s a really good question though and I’m not entirely sure of the answer!
- James Chan answered on 18 Mar 2011:
  
  Hi Ningasaurus,
  yes, you are right, the stem cell can differentiate to become lots of different types of cells. Remember though that the arm is not made up of just one type of cell – there are loads of different types of cells, including skin, hair, muscle, fat, nerves and so on.
  It also depends on where you get this stem cells from. If you had a missing arm and we take a stem cell off you, then it’d have your DNA so it should theoretically give you what you had before, but if you took it off somebody else, then you’d get a different arm! But this technology is a looooong long way off!

Question: if you have grown a stem cell into an arm cell, for example, would it be the same colour, form, shape, weight etc. of a normal arm cell that a normal person has?

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