Cytospin Information and Courses from MediaLab, Inc.
These are the MediaLab courses that cover Cytospin and links to relevant pages within the course.
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| Stained Cytospin Preparations of CSF All white cells present in a cerebrospinal fluid must be identified.
If more than 10 cells/mm3 are present or there is difficulty identifying the few cells that are present, make a cytospin, a filtration, or a sedimentation preparation, stain with Wright-Giemsa, and perform differential count.
Cytospins made with a cytocentrifuge are preferred since they are easiest to make and interpret, but filtration and sedimentation methods can also be used to prepare a slide for subsequent staining.
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| Cytospin Technique In the cytospin procedure, use a high speed centrifuge to concentrate the cells on a slide in a uniform monolayer 6 mm in diameter. The monolayer distribution enhances the morphological appearance of the cells present.Allow the slides to dry in air for several minutes and then stain them with Wright-Giemsa stain. Cytospin slides may be placed in an automatic stainer, such as Hema-Tek, or stained manually.Perform a 100 or 200 cell differential and record the number of neutrophils, eosinophils, basophils, lymphocytes, monocytes, macrophages, and blasts cells.Pathologists must review any slide which has tumor cells, unidentified cells, or immature stages of cells, such as blasts.Since criteria for review may vary from one laboratory to another, be sure to check the requirements in your laboratory before reporting the differential. | View Page |
| Pia Arachnoid Mesothelial Cells (continued) A reactive pia arachnoid mesothelial cell as noted by the darker cytoplasm is present in this field. Reactive cells are a common finding in cytospin smears from spinal fluid samples and are sometimes difficult to distinguish from tumor cells. Mesothelial cells are usually interspersed among the other cells, rather than appearing in clumps. They have a single distinct nuclei that may be eccentric.
The macrophages (histiocytes) are seen next to the mesothelial cell. Macrophages are distinguished from circulating monocytes by the irregular appearing cytoplasm. Bacteria, red cells or other debris can often be seen in the cytoplasm of macrophages.
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| Mature Peripheral Blood Cells In normal spinal fluid from an adult, 60% of cells are lymphocytes and up to 30% are monocytes.
Neutrophils abundance up to 2% is also considered within normal limits when a cytospin smear is used for the differential.
In children, normal CSF cells are 70% monocytes, up to 20% lymphocytes and up to 4% neutrophils.
When any of these normal cell abundances are increased, the term pleocytosis is used. Neutrophil pleocytosis is an increase in neutrophils and usually indicates the presence of a bacterial infection. | View Page |
| True or false: cytospin smears distribute cells in a monolayer. | View Page |
| Neutrophil and Lymphocyte Two segmented neutrophils and a lymphocyte are present in this field. (The arrow indicates one of the neutrophils.) Occasional neutrophils are considered a normal finding in cytospin smears. | View Page |