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Abstract
Adult stem cells have immense potential to regenerate the damaged tissue and regaining the activity of the particular organ. The stem cells present in the mammary gland have wide plasticity maintaining the dynamic function of mammary gland. Bovine mammary stem cells (MaSCs) are least studied so far, although substantial studies have been done on MaSCs of mouse and human mammary gland. The hierarchy of the bovine mammary epithelial cells is yet to be elucidated in molecular details although studies reveal the crucial role of MaSCs as the source of epithelial and myoepithelial cells. Various cell surface markers (CD-24, CD-49f, EpCAM, Sca-1 etc.) have been identified to distinguish the MaSCs from other cells present in the mammary gland. Researches are going on to understand the physiological phenomena occurring in the stem cell proliferation, differentiation and recruitment in the mammary gland as their manipulation can enhance the lactation yield, can regenerate the mammary gland cell population lost after suffering from the acute inflammatory disease of mammary gland i.e. mastitis.