Congenital failure of hematopoiesis in the newborn infant.

Hematopoietic stem cell cultures have greatly advanced our understanding of the physiology of blood production at its early stages and have facilitated the study of various factors that regulate cell differentiation and proliferation. With this understanding, the author discusses hematopoiesis, hematopoietic stem cells and assays for their study, and hematopoietic failure. This is followed by a discussion of different forms of bone marrow failure and guidelines for a rational basis for their therapy.