Peripheral blood contains a tiny percentage of pluripotent stem cells. It is believed that these peripheral blood stem cells (PBSCs) are diverse and have a wide range of clinical uses. Unknown is the precise number of separate populations. Individual PBSC populations that have been identified by various experimental approaches probably share or overlap, while having different designations. Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), CD34- stem cells, CD14+ stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), very small embryonic-like (VSEL) stem cells, endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs), and other pluripotent stem cells are the seven categories into which we have divided PBSCs in this quick study. We go through the main traits of these stem/progenitor cell groups as well as some of their potential uses in ophthalmology.
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