University of Virginia Health System

Hematopoietic Stem Cell
(HSC)

Bone marrow aspirate smear, Wright-Giemsa stain, 1000x

Description:

The multipotent human hematopoietic stem cell cannot be morphologically distinguished from other small mature lymphocytes in the bone marrow or peripheral blood. The hematopoietic stem cell is defined by phenotypic marker studies and represents a small subset (~1%) of the cells in the lymphocyte gate in the peripheral blood and bone marrow that are CD34+. Cells representing further differentiation into the common lymphoid precursor (CLP), common myeloid precursor (CMP), early T-lineage precursor (ETP), granulocyte/monocyte precursor (GMP), and megakaryocyte/erythrocyte precursor (MEP) also cannot be morphologically identified. Cells that correspond to the various stages of antigen-independent B-cell development in the bone marrow and T-cell development in the thymus also cannot be morphologically identified.

 For all publication requests, please complete the image permission form and we will respond to your request shortly.