• Question: Hi. When cells die, how are new ones produced and where do they come from?

    Asked by eden4 to Alexis, Dr D, Helen, Jasmine, Mario on 17 Jun 2013. This question was also asked by patience.
    • Photo: Alexis Barr

      Alexis Barr answered on 17 Jun 2013:

      Hi eden4. When cells die, usually not all the cells die. If they did, no new cells would be able to be produced unless they moved in from somewhere else. Normally, some cells would survive and these cells would then reproduce and produce new cells to replace the ones that had died.

    • Photo: Andrew Devitt

      Andrew Devitt answered on 17 Jun 2013:

      That’s right. Some cells will survive to keep on dividing. But it is possible for cells to die and be replaced by cells from another source. The bone marrow is a great place where new white blood cells come from, so even if all your white blood cells were removed, you’d still be able to get more.

      This is because the bone marrow has stem cells in it and they can make the new cells.

    • Photo: Jasmine Penny

      Jasmine Penny answered on 25 Jun 2013:

      Like Alexis and Andrew have said, there are always cells dividing and making new cells. When a cells dies there are still other cells dividing so they get replaced. Problems can happen when the number of cells dying is more than the numbers of new cells being produced. When there is a problem though the cells send out signals and our bodies do there best to replace the cells from other places and like Andrew says, the bone marrow is an excellent source.

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