Multipotential Stem Cells

cells making up the continually self-renewing tissues of both adult and developing animals. In vertebrates they are found, for example, in epithelial, hemopoietic, and bony tissues. Each tissue has characteristic multipotential stem cells, distinguished by their proliferative activity and degree of specialization. Differentiated tissue cells often have common multipotential stem cells, which can develop in different directions. For example, in mammalian hemopoietic tissue, various blood cells—erythrocytes, thrombocytes, and leukocytes—are formed from common multipotential stem cells. The perpetual presence of these stem cells in an organism ensures not only the renewal of the cell population of the corresponding tissues under normal conditions, but also the replenishing of cells when they are destroyed.

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