Table 1.

Differential potential of stem cells

Differential potential	Number of stem types	Original stem cell	Differentiated cells
Totipotential	All	Fertilized egg (zygote)	All cell types
Pluripotential	All except cells of the embryonic membranes	Cultured embryonic stem cells (ESCs)	Cells from all three germ layers
Multipotential	Many	Adult stem cells (bone marrow, cord blood, peripheral blood, heart, lung)	Blood cells, cardiomyocytes, neural cells, hepatocytes, endothelial cells, myocytes
Oligopotential	Few (2–4 cells)	Myeloid precursor, mesenchymal stem cell, glial-restricted precursor	Myeloid cells, stromal cells, osteocytes, chondrocytes, adipocytes
Unipotential	1	Mast cell precursor	Mast cell
Nullipotentail	None	Terminally differentiated cell (e.g., red blood cell)	No cell division