Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
than the ones they originally belonged to. These developments have not only
resulted in enormous scientific advances, they have also generated new ways
of interpreting the relationships between cells, bodies and human persons.
it is because of these new or altered relationships that human cells and the
products in which they are incorporated obtain their ethical relevance.
as a biological entity, cells have become the focus of tissue engineering.
Using them efficiently and safely are prime concerns for tissue engineers
(european commission, 2002). However, cells remain the building blocks
of (potential) living entities from which they are derived. But cells are also
repositories of information that connect them to the organism from which they
have been isolated. cells have become discrete entities that can be donated
or sold, placing them firmly in the tissue economies that are increasingly
influencing the development of research, medicine and health care (Waldby
and mitchell, 2006).
in all of these qualities, cells link diverse stakeholders with each other,
establishing new forms of relationships. Various stakeholders may well have
widely differing and sometimes conflicting views and interests about these
subjects, often based on strong ethical convictions and sensitivities. These
will influence, amongst others, the acceptability of the use of certain cell
types for BTePs and the modalities for their procurement.
16.2.2 Use of specific cell types in bone tissue
engineering
Various cell types have been put forward for incorporation in BTePs. Two
cell types are frequently mentioned in bone tissue engineering and should
therefore also be analysed for their moral relevance: embryonic stem cells
(es) and multipotent stem cells. of this last cell type, mesenchymal stem
cells (msc) are predominant in bone tissue engineering research (salgado
et al
., 2004). owing to our presently very limited ability to consistently and
reliably control and direct the developmental pathways of es, and the more
reliable results already obtained with differentiated cells, the present choice
for bone tissue engineering is predominantely a choice for differentiated
cells.
Embryonic stem cells
es are the most controversial of all cell types that qualify for application
in BTePs because it is - for the moment - still necessary to destroy the
early embryo in order to retrieve the es. The question whether the use of
es is acceptable must therefore be retraced to the status of the embryo.
There are various opinions concerning this status (Unesco, 2001). These
convictions are rooted in religious, philosophical and/or moral systems
