Endothelial cells caught on camera turning into blood cells

Researchers from the Institute of Stem Cell Research of Helmholtz Zentrum Muenchen produced this movie in which several very rare endothelial cells are seen transforming into blood cells. They presented their findings on the molecular mechanisms of blood formation at the symposium “Molecular Mechanisms of Normal and Malignant Hematopoiesis,” in Munich this week.

The researchers tracked and recorded the behavior of large numbers of individual cells by combining optimized microscopy, incubation, and novel tracking software programs with advanced purification and cell culture techniques. This let them observe the behavior of many differentiating mesodermal cells over time -- up to one week. They originally published this work earlier in Nature. 

Original Publication: Eilken HM, Nishikawa SI and Schroeder T (2009) 
Continuous single-cell imaging of blood generation from haemogenic endothelium 
Nature, 457: 896 – 900