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Chapter 40

A Hierarchical Stem-Cell System: Blood Cell Formation

The vascular system comprises an extensive network of arteries, capillaries, and veins. The vascular system can be broadly divided into the blood and …
Blood vessel formation starts early during embryonic development, around day 7. In the extraembryonic yolk sac, mesodermal precursor cells called …
Rapidly dividing tumors, embryos, and wounded tissues require more oxygen than usual, lowering the oxygen concentration in the blood. At low oxygen or …
The process of blood cell formation is called hematopoiesis. Hematopoiesis starts early during development, on the seventh day of embryogenesis. This …
The hematopoietic stem cells or HSCs are multipotent, meaning they can differentiate and give rise to all blood and immune cells. HSCs are maintained in …
Commitment is the  process whereby stem cells:  lose their ability to form all cell types and irreversibly change into a specific type. The …
Red blood cells  (RBCs) transport oxygen to all body tissues. These cells survive only for 120 days and then need to be replenished. Erythropoiesis …
Common myeloid progenitors (CMPs) are oligopotent cells that can differentiate into granulocytes and macrophages. Granulocytes and macrophages are …
All blood and immune cells are produced from the multipotent hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) by the process of hematopoiesis. However, they all have a …
Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) have the ability to self-renew and generate all cell types of the blood lineages throughout the lifetime of an individual. …
Fate maps, constructed from lineage tracing all of the cells of an embryo, reveal which tissues descend from each cell of the embryo. Although fate maps …
Erythropoiesis involves a dynamic process that begins with committed erythroid burst forming units (BFU-Es) followed by rapidly dividing erythroid colony …