The daily production of hundreds of billions of blood cells through the process of hematopoiesis is a remarkable feat of human physiology. Transport of oxygen to tissues, blood clotting, antibody- and cellular-mediated immunity, bone remodeling, and a host of other functions in the body are dependent on a properly functioning hematopoietic system. As a consequence, many pathological conditions are attributable to blood cell abnormalities, and a fair number of these are now clinically treatable as a direct result of hematopoietic research. Proliferation of hematopoietic stem cells, and their...

The human body contains many specialized tissues that are capable of fulfilling an incredible variety of functions necessary for our survival. This volume in the Human Cell Culture Series focuses on mesenchymal tissues and cells. The in vitro study of mesenchymal cells is perhaps the oldest form of human cell culture, beginning with the culturing of fibroblasts. Fibroblasts have long been generically described in the literature, arising from many tissue types upon in vitro cell culture. However, recent studies, many enabled by new molecular biology techniques, have shown considerable...