4 ms·
The parent is wrong in that they fail to distinguish between terminal/differentiated cells and tissue stem cells. Also they imply there is a one-to-one correspo
by nonbel 9y ago
The parent is wrong in that they fail to distinguish between terminal/differentiated cells and tissue stem cells. Also they imply there is a one-to-one correspondence between the relevant cell divisions and number of total cells at any one time. This is not the case.
Eg, you can have one skin stem cell divide once to replace a single terminal cell (one of the daughters remains as a stem cell). Or that one daughter cell can divide itself once to replace two terminal cells per stem cell divisions. Or those two cells can each divide to get 4 terminal cells per stem cell division, etc.
The relevant number is divisions since the fertilized egg for each stem cell lineage.
- klmr 9y ago> they fail to distinguish between terminal/differentiated cells and tissue stem cells I don’t distinguish them because what I’ve said is true both for differentiated and stem cells. I’m not saying that there are no relevant differences between these cells, obviously. > they imply there is a one-to-one correspondence between the relevant cell divisions and number of total cells at any one time Uh, where did I imply that? That would obviously be false but, again, it’s not relevant to the argument I’m making. > The relevant number is divisions since the fertilized egg for each stem cell lineage. The relevant number for what? I was talking about the total number/size of cells at a given time, not the number of cell divisions, which is an entirely different (but also relevant) facet of tumourigenesis.