Precursor cell

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2008)

In cytology, a precursor cell, also called a blast cell or simply blast, is a type of partially differentiated, usually unipotent cell that has lost most or all of the stem cell multipotency.

Usually precursor cells are cells capable of differentiating into one or two closely related final forms. Sometimes precursor cell is used as an alternative term for multipotent stem cells.

A blastoma is a type of cancer created by malignancies of precursor cells.

In embryology, precursor cells are group of cells that differentiate later into one organ.

Cytological types

• Oligodendrocyte precursor cell
• Myeloblast
• Thymocyte
• Meiocyte
• Megakaryoblast
• Promegakaryocyte
• Melanoblast
• Lymphoblast
• Bone marrow precursor cells
• Normoblast
• Angioblast (endothelial precursor cells)
• Myeloid precursor cells

References

Precursor cell – Britannica Online Encyclopedia

External links

• NIF Search - Precursor Cell via the Neuroscience Information Framework

This cell biology article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v d e