Due to a number of factors including the political climate from 200-2008, adult stem cell research has made great strides in comparison to embryonic stem cell research. For example, the total number of research articles listed in the National Library of Medicine for adult stem cell types exceeds 3,000 whereas Embryonic are only approximately 1,000.
If we compare the National Library of Medicine searches for the following items:
- Cartilage Repair: 230 articles on embryonic vs. 1,113 for just one adult stem cell line(mesenchymal stem cells)
- Myocardial Infarction: 186 for embryonic stem cells vs. 341 for adult mesenchymal stem cells, 69 for Endothelial Progenitor Cells
- Wound Healing: 114 for embryonic stem cells vs. 330 for mesenchymal stem cells, 565 for adult epithelial stem cells
To delve further, the first 20 references for myocardial infarction for adult stem cells are almost all devoted to actual animal models of treatment and advanced concepts such as dosing. Almost none of the 20 references in the same search for embryonic stem cells reveal any animal testing; the focus being review articles about what might be theoretically possible.
The conclusion, adult stem cells are much farther along in their development with regard to real world treatments.