Stochastic differentiation refers to the process in which a stem cell undergoes division, giving rise to two daughter cells that are differentiated.[1]
On the other hand, another stem cell goes through the process of differentiation or mitosis to generate two stem cells that are similar to its original cell state, thereby maintaining stem cell number.[2] This process of differentiation is necessary for stem cells to maintain their number (stem cell reserve) in the body.[3]
Published Clinical Citations
[1] ^ Hayashi, Shin-Ichi, Akihiko Murata, Kazuki Okuyama, Yuhki Shimoda, Mari Hikosaka, Hisataka Yasuda, and Miya Yoshino. 2012. Stochastic differentiation into an osteoclast lineage from cloned macrophage-like cells. Biochemical and biophysical research communications, no. 2 (October 22). doi:10.1016/j.bbrc.2012.10.052. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23085228.
[2] ^ Sturrock, Marc, Andreas Hellander, Anastasios Matzavinos, and Mark A J Chaplain. 2013. Spatial stochastic modelling of the Hes1 gene regulatory network: intrinsic noise can explain heterogeneity in embryonic stem cell differentiation. Journal of the Royal Society, Interface, no. 80 (January 16). doi:10.1098/rsif.2012.0988. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23325756.
[3] ^ Tarlinton, David. 2012. B-cell differentiation: instructive one day, stochastic the next. Current biology : CB, no. 7 ( 10). doi:10.1016/j.cub.2012.02.045. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22497941.