HEMATOPOIETIC STEM-CELLS - THEIR HETEROGENEITY AND REGULATION

The maintenance of the various blood cell populations in mammals is ac hieved by the proliferation and differentiation of precursor cells loc ated primarily in the bone marrow. These precursor cells are all deriv ed from a common haemopoietic stem cell population that is established during embryogenesis and functions for the lifetime of the organism, An overview is given of the various assay systems for haemopoietic ste m cells, how these assays have contributed to understanding the consid erable heterogeneity within the stem cell compartment, the regulation of stem cells and the development of the haemopoietic system.