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Histology 4 – Blood Dr. Fadhil H. Ahmed

Blood
it’s a specialized connective tissue which made up of two parts:
1. Plasma (liquid in which the formed elements are suspended)
2. Formed elements (circulating in the plasma)
o erythrocytes (red blood cells),
o platelets,
o leukocytes (white blood cells).
• Pushed mainly by rhythmic contractions of the heart, about 5 L of blood in an
average adult moves unidirectionally within the closed circulatory system.

PLASMA
• It’s the fluid component of blood, comprises approximately 55% of the total blood
volume.
Component of Plasma:
• Electrolytes and ions, such as calcium, sodium, potassium, and
bicarbonate
• Larger molecules such as, albumins, globulins, and fibrinogen
• Organic compounds such as amino acids, lipids, vitamins,
hormones, and cofactors.
• Blood After clotting, a yellow-colored serum is expressed from blood. This fluid is
identical to plasma but contains no fibrinogen or other components necessary for
the clotting reaction.
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Histology 4 – Blood Dr. Fadhil H. Ahmed
BLOOD CELLS
• Blood cells can be studied histologically in smears
prepared by spreading a drop of blood in a thin layer on
a microscope slide
• Blood smears are routinely stained with special mixtures
of acidic and basic dyes. These mixtures called azures
(such as Giemsa and Wright stain) that are more useful
in staining cytoplasmic granules

Erythrocytes
• Are enucleated cells
• Never leave the circulatory system under normal conditions.
• In an isotonic medium, human erythrocyte
are:
o 7.5 µm in diameter
o 2.6 µm thick at rim
o 0.75 µm thick in center
• The biconcave shape provides erythrocytes with a large surface-to-volume ratio,
thus facilitating gas exchange.
• Erythrocytes are surrounded by a plasmalemma.
• The normal concentration of erythrocytes in blood is:
o 4.1–6 million /microliter in men.
o 3.9–5.5 million / microliter in women
• Erythrocyte cytoplasm:
o It is densely filled with hemoglobin (O2-carrying
protein that accounts for the cells’ acidophilia)
o Erythrocyte loss nucleus and organelles, shortly before the cells are released by
bone marrow into the circulation. Lacking mitochondria, erythrocytes rely on
anaerobic glycolysis for their minimal energy needs.

Leukocytes (white blood cells or WBCs)

• These cells originate from bone marrow and migrate via the blood capillaries to
connective tissue.
• According to type of cytoplasmic granules and their nuclear morphology,
leukocytes are divided into two groups:
1. granulocytes (polymorphonuclear leukocytes)
2. agranulocytes (mononuclear leukocytes)
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Histology 4 – Blood Dr. Fadhil H. Ahmed
• Both types are rather spherical while suspended in blood plasma, but they become
amoeboid and motile after leaving the blood vessels and invading the tissues.

Granulocytes
Possess two types of granules:
1. Specific granules (neutral, basic, or
acidic) and have specific functions
2. Azurophilic granules stain purple and
are lysosomes.
Multilobulated nucleus
Include neutrophils, Basophils and
eosinophils
Agranulocytes
Do not have specific granules, but they
contain azurophilic lysosomes that bind
the azure dyes.
The nucleus is round or indented.
Include lymphocyte and monocyte

Neutrophils
• These are most abundant (50–70%) of leukocytes.
• Their nuclei have 3–5 lobes (usually 3) linked by fine
threads of chromatin.
• They provide first line of defense against infective
organisms.
• They phagocytize the small particles, microorganisms and
destroy them by their enzymes.
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Histology 4 – Blood Dr. Fadhil H. Ahmed
• Neutrophils also contain glycogen in their cytoplasm Glycogen is
broken down into glucose to yield energy via the glycolytic
pathway of glucose oxidation. The ability of neutrophils to
survive in an anaerobic environment is highly advantageous,
since they can kill bacteria and help clean up debris in poorly
oxygenated regions, e.g., inflamed or necrotic tissue.
• short-lived cells with a half-life of 6–7 h in blood and a life span of 1–4 days in
connective tissues, where they die by apoptosis.
• Neutrophils are inactive and spherical while circulating in blood stream but show an
active ameboid movement in the extracellular matrix of connective tissue.

Eosinophils
• They constitute 1–5% of leukocytes.
• They are characterized by the presence of bi-lobed nucleus.
• The main identifying characteristic is the presence of specific large
and spherical granules (about 200 per cell) that are stained by
eosin
• The number of circulating eosinophils increases during helminthic
infections and allergic reactions. These leukocytes also remove
antigen-antibody complexes from connective tissue by
phagocytosis.
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Histology 4 – Blood Dr. Fadhil H. Ahmed
Basophils
• These are the least leukocytes in blood (0–1%).
• In these cells, nucleus is segmented but not seen
clearly due to the presence of dark, stained
cytoplasmic granules.
• By migrating into connective tissues, basophils appear to supplement the functions
of mast cells. These are phagocytic cells; their granules contain heparin and
histamine.

Lymphocytes
• These are the smallest leukocytes (6–18 µm) in
size. They constitute 20–40% of the total
leukocytes in blood.
• They are present throughout the body. They are
most numerous in gastrointestinal, respiratory
and genitourinary tracts.
• They have eccentrically round nucleus.
• In small lymphocytes, a thin rim of cytoplasm is present around the nucleus, whereas
in large lymphocytes the rim of cytoplasm is wider than in small lymphocytes.
• There are three types of lymphocytes:
o T lymphocytes
o B lymphocytes
o Natural killer (NK) cells
• They are responsible for immunological defense.
o Lymphocytes are responsible for cell-mediated immunity.
o B lymphocytes are responsible for humoral immunity.
o Natural killer (NK) cells bring about antibody-dependent cellular
cytotoxicity.
• Lymphocytes vary in life span; some live only a few days, and others survive in the
circulating blood for many years.
• Lymphocytes are the only type of leukocytes that return from the tissues back to the
blood, after diapedesis.

Monocytes
• These are the largest leukocytes in size with diameters (12 to 20 μm). They constitute
1–10% of the total leukocytes in blood.
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Histology 4 – Blood Dr. Fadhil H. Ahmed
• They have eccentrically placed, horseshoe-shaped
or kidney-shaped nucleus.
• After crossing venule or capillary walls and entering
connective tissues, monocytes differentiate into
macrophages.

Platelets (thrombocytes)
• are enucleated, disk-like cell fragments 2–4 µm in diameter.
• Platelets originate from the fragmentation of giant polyploid megakaryocytes
that reside in the bone marrow.
• promote blood clotting and help repair gaps
in the walls of blood vessels, preventing loss
of blood.
• Normal platelet counts range from 200,000 to
400,000 per microliter of blood.
• have a life span of about 10 days.
• often appear in clumps. Each platelet has a peripheral light blue-stained
transparent zone, the hyalomere, and a central zone containing purple granules,
called the granulomere.