Morphologic and radiological observations on the earliest bone marrow formation in human embryos and fetuses

Morphologic and radiologic studies were undertaken on 26 human embryos and fetuses to determine the stage and site of the earliest bone marrow formation. Up to the 10th week of gestation, primary bone marrow is not present anywhere although the intramembranous ossification occurs in the maxilla and mandible and also in the middle portion of the clavicle. At the 11th week of gestation, X-ray examination showed in two fetuses the bone formation in the clavicle, scapula, maxilla, mandible, and the diaphysis of the long bones. Serial sections of these fetuses revealed that the primary bone marrow occurs first in the middle portion of the clavicle. From a series of our embryological studies, the concept of the mononuclear phagocyte system which involves the bone-marrow-derived monocytic origin of tissue macrophages, is not accepted, at least, on the origin of Kupffer cells in human fetal livers.