Macrophages are present in most of the tissues in the organism. They are basically separated into two categories: the resident macrophages, specific of the tissue and capable of proliferation, and the macrophages deriving from the monocyte differentiation. In the bone marrow, the "resident" macrophages are part of the hematopoietic stem cell niche.Those macrophages are known to have a role in the support of erythropoiesis (Chow, Nat Med 19:429-436, 2013), the maintenance of stem cell in their niches (Chow, J Exp Med 208:261-271, 2011), and are an independent self-renewing population (Hashimoto, Immunity 38:792-804, 2013).
Keywords: Bone marrow; Cell culture; Cell sorting; “Resident” macrophages.