Figure 5.

Timeline of fetal and adult hematopoiesis. The primitive hematopoiesis is initiated in the yolk sac independently of C-Myb activity, and generates early CSF-1R⁺ EMPs that give rise to YS macrophages without monocytic intermediates during a short time window and will establish the brain microglia. The transient definitive hematopoiesis and then the definitive hematopoiesis are both dependent on C-Myb activity and generate progenitors that differentiate in the fetal liver. The transient definitive wave, which include EMPs and then LMPs, give rise in particular to fetal monocytes that seed the tissues prior to birth to establish the self-renewing tissue-resident macrophage network. Although only HSCs, which result from the definitive hematopoiesis, seem to be maintained in the bone marrow in adults, the relative contribution of the transient definitive wave to the adult immune system remains unclear.