Characteristics of Cabot Rings

What are Cabot rings?

  • Thin, red-violet-staining strands in the shape of rings, figure eights, or shapes of the letter B may on rare occasions be seen in erythrocytes. These structures are called Cabot rings.
  • Although the origin of Cabot rings continues to be ellusive, they are not nuclear fragments since they test Feulgen negative.
  • The rings are probably microtubules remaining from a mitotic spindle.
  • Cabot rings have been observed in a few cases of megaloblastic anemia, lead poisoning and other disorders of erythropoiesis, as well as, after a splenectomy.

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