How Methods of Molecular Biology Shape Our Understanding of the Hematopoietic System

Resumo

Blood is extremely important for a multicellular organism: it connects all organs and tissues, supplies them with nutrients and oxygen, removes carbon dioxide and metabolic products, maintains homeostasis, and provides protection against infections. That is why studies on blood have always drawn a great deal of attention. In ancient times, it was believed that the soul was in the blood and that it sometimes “sank into the stomach.” Initially, the study of blood was limited to morphological methods, to which physiological and cellular research were added in the twentieth century. With their help, researchers established that mature blood cells are formed from a rare population of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), which are located in the bone marrow. The development of molecular biology methods and their combination with classical physiological ones allowed a breakthrough in understanding the structure of the hematopoietic system, which changed our understanding not only of hematopoiesis but also about the nature of adult stem cells. This review describes the molecular assays used in experimental hematology, and how their application has gradually been expanding our knowledge of blood formation and continues to provide new information about it.