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Characterization and Classification of Stem Cells

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Regenerative Medicine

Abstract

Starting from a zygote, an organism is made up of thousands, highly organised stem cells, progenitor cells and postmitotic cells which are generated in spatio-temporally coordinated proliferation and differentiation steps. The ongoing advancements in cell culture, isolation techniques, and molecular analyses has driven our basic understanding of different cell types and led to a broad classification of stem cells. This chapter outlines the most prominent techniques used for the characterization and classification of stem cells and provides an overview of many different stem cells, their function and their mRNA, miRNA and protein content.

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Abbreviations

ESC:

Embryonic stem cell

iPSC:

Induced pluripotent stem cell

HSC:

Hematopoietic stem cell

TSC:

Tissue stem cell

CSC:

Cancer stem cell

EPC:

Endothelial progenitor cell

SPC:

Spermatogonial progenitor cell

HpSC:

Hepatic stem cell

NSC:

Neural stem cell

BTSC:

Brain tumor stem cell

MSC:

Mesenchymal stem cell

LT-HSC:

Long-term hematopoietic stem cell

ST-HSC:

Short-term hematopoietic stem cell

MP:

Mmultipotent progenitors

CMP:

Common myeloid progenitor

CLP:

Common lymphoid progenitor

MEP:

Megakaryocyte-erythroid progenitor

GMP:

Granulocyte-macrophage progenitor

ErP:

Erythroid progenitor

MkP:

Megakaryocyte progenitor

RBC:

Red blood cells

NK:

Natural killer

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Bosio, A., Bissels, U., Miltenyi, S. (2011). Characterization and Classification of Stem Cells. In: Steinhoff, G. (eds) Regenerative Medicine. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9075-1_6

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