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Concept
Hematopoietic stem cell
Summary
Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are the stem cells that give rise to other blood cells. This process is called haematopoiesis. In vertebrates, the very first definitive HSCs arise from the ventral endothelial wall of the embryonic aorta within the (midgestational) aorta-gonad-mesonephros region, through a process known as endothelial-to-hematopoietic transition. In adults, haematopoiesis occurs in the red bone marrow, in the core of most bones. The red bone marrow is derived from the layer of the embryo called the mesoderm.
Haematopoiesis is the process by which all mature blood cells are produced. It must balance enormous production needs (the average person produces more than 500 billion blood cells every day) with the need to regulate the number of each blood cell type in the circulation. In vertebrates, the vast majority of hematopoiesis occurs in the bone marrow and is derived from a limited number of hematopoietic stem cells that are multipotent and capable of extensive self-renewal.
Hematopoietic stem cells give rise to different types of blood cells, in lines called myeloid and lymphoid. Myeloid and lymphoid lineages both are involved in dendritic cell formation. Myeloid cells include monocytes, macrophages, neutrophils, basophils, eosinophils, erythrocytes, and megakaryocytes to platelets. Lymphoid cells include T cells, B cells, natural killer cells, and innate lymphoid cells. The definition of hematopoietic stem cell has developed since HSCs were first discovered in 1961. The hematopoietic tissue contains cells with long-term and short-term regeneration capacities and committed multipotent, oligopotent, and unipotent progenitors. Hematopoietic stem cells constitute 1:10,000 of cells in myeloid tissue.
HSC transplants are used in the treatment of cancers and other immune system disorders.
They are round, non-adherent, with a rounded nucleus and low cytoplasm-to-nucleus ratio. In shape, hematopoietic stem cells resemble lymphocytes.
Official source
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