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Updated: Mar 26, 2026

Isolation of Murine Embryonic Hemogenic Endothelial Cells
Published on: June 17, 2016
Specification and function of hemogenic endothelium during embryogenesis
Emily Gritz1,2, Karen K Hirschi3
1Departments of Medicine, Genetics and Biomedical Engineering, Yale Cardiovascular Research Center, Vascular Biology and Therapeutics Program, and Yale Stem Cell Center, Yale University School of Medicine, 300 George St., New Haven, CT, 06511, USA.
Hemogenic endothelium is a specialized subset of developing vascular endothelium that acquires hematopoietic potential and can give rise to multilineage hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells during a narrow developmental window in tissues such as the extraembryonic yolk sac and embryonic aorta-gonad-mesonephros. Herein, we review current knowledge about the historical and developmental origins of hemogenic endothelium, the molecular events that govern hemogenic specification of vascular endothelial cells, the generation of multilineage hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells from hemogenic endothelium, and the potential for translational applications of knowledge gained from further study of these processes.
Hemogenic endothelium is a specialized subset of developing vascular endothelium that acquires hematopoietic potential and can give rise to multilineage hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells during a narrow developmental window in tissues such as the extraembryonic yolk sac and embryonic aorta-gonad-mesonephros. Herein, we review current knowledge about the historical and developmental origins of hemogenic endothelium, the molecular events that govern hemogenic specification of vascular endothelial cells, the generation of multilineage hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells from hemogenic endothelium, and the potential for translational applications of knowledge gained from further study of these processes.
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