What Are Hematopoietic Stem Cells?
Related News: Stem Cell DefinitionsThe name is derived from Hematopoiesis, which is simply the formation of blood or blood cells in the body.
Hematopoietic Stem Cells are simply stem cells involved in the body's process of creating blood related cells. They are ultimately responsible for the constant renewal of blood which to give some scope is the production of billions of new blood cells each day.....
Hematopoietic Stem Cells (HSC) can give rise to all known cell types in the blood-forming and immune (hematolymphoid) systems. They hold great therapeutic potential for the treatment of cancer (leukemia) and autoimmune diseases like AIDS.
There are 2 types of Hematopoietic Stem Cells. These include:
- Long-term reconstituting (LTR) stem cells
LTR HSC's reconstitute the hematopoietic system for life.
- Short-term reconstituting (STR) stem cells.
STR HSC's STR HSC can sustain hematopoiesis for only a short time.
A hematopoietic stem cell is a cell isolated from the blood or bone marrow that can renew itself, can differentiate to a variety of specialized cells, can mobilize out of the bone marrow into circulating blood, and can undergo programmed cell death, called apoptosis—a process by which cells that are detrimental or unneeded self-destruct.
Hematopoietic Stem Cells sources include:
- Bone Marrow
- Peripheral Blood or Circulating Blood
- Umbilical Cord Blood
- Fetal Hematopoietic System (developing blood-producing tissues of fetal animals)
- Embryonic Stem Cells and Embryonic Germ Cells
Posted on February 22, 2005 01:02 PM