Sickle cell disease other genetic diseases) among African Americans compared to West Africans. Another factor that limits the spread of sickle cell genes in North America is the relative absence of polygamy, which allows affected males to continue to produce many children with multiple partners. The loss of red blood cell elasticity is central to the pathophysiology of sickle cell disease. Normal red blood cells are quite elastic, which allows the cells to deform to pass through capillaries. In sickle cell disease, low oxygen tension promotes red blood cell sickling and repeated episodes of sickling damage the cell membrane and decrease the cell's
Hematopoietic stem cell Hematopoietic stem cell Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are the stem cells that give rise to other blood cells. This process is called haematopoiesis.<ref name="Birbrair n/a–n/a"></ref> This process occurs in the red bone marrow, in the core of most bones. In embryonic development, the red bone marrow is derived from the layer of the embryo called the mesoderm. Hematopoiesis is the process by which all mature blood cells are produced. It must balance enormous production needs (the average person produces more than 500 billion blood cells every day) with the need to precisely regulate the number of each blood cell type