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Updated: Jun 28, 2026

Isolation of Early Hematopoietic Stem Cells from Murine Yolk Sac and AGM
Published on: June 27, 2008
Very small embryonic-like stem cells are present in adult murine organs: ImageStream-based morphological analysis and
Ewa K Zuba-Surma1, Magdalena Kucia, Wan Wu
1Stem Cell Biology Institute, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, USA. ekzuba01@louisville.edu
Abstract:
Recently, we purified a population of CXCR4+/Oct-4+/SSEA-1+/Sca-1+/Lin(-)/CD45(-) very small embryonic-like stem cells (VSELs) from adult murine bone marrow (BM). After using flow cytometry, ImageStream analysis, confocal microscopy, and real time RT-PCR, we report that similar cells could be also identified and isolated from several organs in adult mice. The highest total numbers of Oct-4+ VSELs were found in the brain, kidneys, muscles, pancreas, and BM. These observations support our hypothesis that a population of very primitive cells expressing germ line/epiblast markers (Oct-4, SSEA-1) is deposited early during embryogenesis in various organs and survives into adulthood. Further studies are needed to determine whether these cells, after being isolated from various adult human organs similarly to their murine BM-derived counterparts, are endowed with pluripotent stem cell properties.
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