The (intra-aortic) hematopoietic cluster cocktail: what is in the mix?

Understanding de novo hematopoietic cell generation, i.e. transition or differentiation of a non-hematopoietic precursor to a hematopoietic cell identity, has long been a goal in the field of developmental hematopoiesis. Over a century ago, before functional assays existed, histological studies on many species of early-stage vertebrate embryos (Figure 1A) revealed the existence of clusters of hematopoietic-like cells tightly associated to the ventral aortic endothelium, frequently near the divergence of vascular branches (Figure 1B) (Dantschakoff, 1907; Emmel, 1916; Jordan, 1916; Jordan, 1917; Maximow, 1909; Minot et al., 1912; Sabin, 1920; Stricht, 1899).
Source: Experimental Hematology - Category: Hematology Authors: Tags: Review Source Type: research