Studies on mice using adult stem cells derived from bone marrow showed that, when cultured in a special growth medium, have the ability to develop into multiple specialized tissues. A subset of these cells, called CD34+ is multipotent, meaning they can develop into many different tissues, do not lead to the development of teratomas, and eliminate the need to suppress the immune system to prevent rejection because they come from the same person. These properties could make it unnecessary to use embryonic stem cells.
