Characterization and Classification of Stem Cells

Abstract

Starting from a zygote, an organism is made up of thousands, highly organised stem cells, progenitor cells and postmitotic cells which are generated in spatio-temporally coordinated proliferation and differentiation steps. The ongoing advancements in cell culture, isolation techniques, and molecular analyses have driven our basic understanding of different cell types and led to a broad classi fi cation of stem cells. This chapter outlines the most prominent techniques used for the characterization and classi fi cation of stem cells and provides an overview of many different stem cells, their function and their mRNA, miRNA and protein content.