Hematopoietic Stem Cells
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Historically, many of the earliest methods and attempts to isolate progenitor subsets from the blood and bone marrow involved separating cells based upon size and cell cycle characteristics. However, these techniques were not sufficient for successful analysis.
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HSCs are found in the bone marrow of adult individuals, in the femur, hip, and other bones. Cells can be obtained directly by removal from the bone or from the blood following pretreatment with cytokines, such as G-CSF (granulocyte colony-stimulating factors). Other sources include umbilical cord blood and placenta. For experimental purposes, fetal liver or fetal spleen of animals also are useful sources of HSCs.
Experiment results
Identification and enrichment of adult mouse hematopoeitic stem cells with the BD FACSAria™ II cell sorter »
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Early transplantation studies involving bone marrow derived hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) revealed the need to distinguish blood cells derived from either the host or the graft to adequately assess cellular function from the transplanted cells. To qualitatively and quantitatively measure the impact and success of the transplanted cells, multiple cellular markers were analyzed, including intracellular proteins and cell surface receptors.
The development of the fluorescent cell sorter and the availability of monoclonal antibodies to cell surface markers
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specific to hematopoietic stem cells enabled the analysis and cell isolation from heterogeneous cell populations.
Despite these breakthroughs, the field of hematopoietic stem cell research was slowed by the lack of a single biomarker to distinguish different stem cell subpopulations and specifically mark the pluripotent cell population.
Today, numerous cell surface specific antibodies, dyes, and fluorophores are available for use with multiparameter flow cytometric approaches to define different stem cell lineages.
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Experiment Results
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