MCD BIO 90 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Embryonic Stem Cell, Zona Pellucida, Adult Stem Cell

• School: UCLA
• Department: Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
• Course: MCD BIO 90
• Professor: Mitra Hooshmand

Document Summary

Stem cells are undifferentiated cells which divide via mitosis, whereby their daughter cells either (1) enter pathway leading to full-differentiated cell, or (2) remain as a stem cell. Stem cells can be used to both study a disease and/or treat it. Differentiation capacity: it has limited o no memory (undifferentiated), Self-renew capacity: it must be able to reproduce. Stem cells first gain memory about the layer of the body, and then become more specialized. So first it might go through the endoderm branch and then to the stomach branch, etc. We have germ cells and somatic cells in our bodies. 10 times bigger than a red blood cell. Fertilization occurs when a single sperm penetrates a single egg. The sperm penetrates the outer membrane of the egg (zona pellucida). The zona pellucida hardens because of the calcium released. The new product is now a zygote (earliest form of an embryo).