Appearance of Granulocytes

Segmented and Band Nuclei

  • The granulocytes found in normal peripheral blood are neutrophils, eosinophils and basophils.
  • Most have segmented nuclei, and are therefore classified as being at the "segmented" stage of development.
  • Some that are a little less mature have unsegmented nuclei. These are classified as "bands."
  • Generally, we differentiate between the band and segmented forms of neutrophils, but since eosinophils and basophils are present in such low numbers, and since their nuclei are often obscured by cytoplasmic granules, we usually don't concern ourselves with designating the band forms.
  • Since hematologists and textbooks use several different terms for these cells, synonyms for each term will be given and then may be used interchangeably throughout the course.

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