12/24/2023
⛄ Smear-sons Greetings⛄
A very seasonal smear made from red marrow extracted from the iliac crest of a pelvis.
Happy Holidays one and all!
i♡histo
www.ihearthisto.com
This image, amazingly, captures a single moment in time during the development of thousands of red and white blood cells.
Many of the small cells that are visible, like the ones forming the snowman’s carrot nose, do not have a nucleus. These are brand new erythrocytes (red blood cells) that are ready to exit the bone and enter the blood stream.
The other, slightly larger cells that have nuclei, like the snowman’s eyes and his top button, are either precursors to these erythrocytes (they will mature and lose their nucleus) or are precursors to the other blood cells in our body, the leukocytes (white blood cells): lymphocytes, monocytes, neutrophils, eosinophils and basophils.
In addition, the bone marrow is home to the cells that form platelets. These are huge multinucleated cells aptly named megakaryocytes - perhaps the cell at the bottom right.
It is possible to identify each mature cell and its precursor based upon its morphology and staining at higher magnification. High or low levels of these cells can indicate disease or cancers of the blood