These are images of the nuclei of a stem cell undergoing nuclear fission—the process of duplicating the cell’s genetic material before the cell divides to produce additional daughter cells.
In a 2005 paper, Gostjeva et al.* observed that the cells responsible for organogenesis (the formation of our body structures) have very similar properties to those that are responsible for carcinogenesis (the formation of cancer); there are “stem cells” and there are “cancer stem cells.” Both exhibit this sort of “bell-shaped” nuclei during nuclear fission. The images that the scientists captured are visual evidence.
When we saw this, my friend, Dylan, couldn’t help but recall the biblical quote when God creates man, “From dust you came, and unto dust you shall return.”
The same sort of cells that bring us into being also plague us later in life.
-Kevin
8.10.2010
*E.V. Gostjeva, et al. “Bell-shaped nuclei dividing by symmetrical and asymmetrical nuclear fission have qualities of stem cells in human colonic embryogenesis and carcinogenesis.” Cancer Genetics and Cytogenetics. 2005
