干细胞对科学家和临床医生引起了极大的兴趣。除了成为移植和再生医学的有前途的细胞来源外，它们还充当脊椎动物发育的出色模型。在近年来，由于政治和道德辩论激烈，对干细胞研究的兴趣已经超出了科学统一的范围。干细胞有两类 - “胚胎”和“成人”。胚胎干细胞（也称为“多能”干细胞也是从植入前阶段胚胎衍生而来的，并保留无限期地在培养物中生长的能力，并将其分化为几乎所有人体组织。成年干细胞都在成年有机体的大多数组织中发现；科学家开始学习如何隔离，培养和将它们区分为一系列组织特异性类型（因此被认为是多能体系）。在培养中生长的干细胞并根据需要区分它们需要超出基本细胞培养技术的特定技能和知识。我们试图在干细胞场中组装最强大和最新的技术（包括传统方法和新颖方法），并邀请世界领先的科学家动手专业知识，以撰写有关他们是专家或什至建立自己的专家的章节。第419卷，“成人干细胞”，涵盖了所有三个细菌层和器官系统的干细胞。Volume 418, ‘‘Embryonic Stem Cells,'' offers a variety of know-how from derivation to differentiation of em- bryonic stem cells, including such sought-after methods as human embryonic stem cell derivation and maintenance, morula- and single blastomere-derived ES cells, ES cells created via parthenogenesis and nuclear transfer, as well as techniques for derivation of ES cells from other species, including mouse, bovine,斑马鱼和鸟。本卷的第二部分涵盖了来自所有三个细菌层的ES细胞衍生物的分化和维持的最新进展：神经谱系的细胞，视网膜色素上皮细胞，心肌细胞，造血和血管细胞，造血细胞，卵巢细胞，卵巢细胞，雄性生殖细胞，肺部和胰岛素生产细胞等。The methods include isolation, maintenance, analysis, and differentiation of a wide range of adult stem cell types, including neural, retinal, epithelial cells, dental, skeletal, and haematopoietic cells, as well as ovarian, spermatogonial, lung, pancreatic, intestinal, trophoblast, germ, cord blood, amniotic fluid, and placental stem cells.