White Blood Cell Abnormalities

Laboratory Procedures

Let us recall what looks Normal.

Some terminology for morphology• -penia: decreased number of cells in the

blood (Neutropenia, lymphopenia).• -philia or –cytosis: increased number of

cells in the blood (neutrophilia, lymphocytosis).

• Macrocytosis: larger than normal cells• Microcytosis: smaller than normal cells• Anisocytosis: cells that are unequal in size• Left shift: presence of immature

neutrophils in blood.

Nuclear Hyposegmentation• Can be found in cells that contain

lobulated or segmented nuclei.• Which cells would this be?• What could this indicate?

Pelger-Huet Anomaly• Hyposegemented neutrophils that function

normally.• Hereditary disorder; failure of the nucleus

in mature cells to undergo segmentation.

Nuclear Hypersegmentation• Recall what can cause this.

Toxic Neutrophils• Characterized by ctyoplasm basophilia,

Dohle bodies, toxic granulation, and/or foamy cytoplasm.

• Cells have decreased functional abilities.• Animal with toxic, degenerative shift may

be compromised by lack of adequate cell number and decrease ability of cells to function.

Dohle Bodies• Blue cytoplasmic inclusions.• Low numbers may be found in healthy

cats.• Indicates toxicity in other species.

Normal vs. Toxic Neutrophils

Intracytoplasmic Neutrophil Inclusions• Found in neutrophils of animals with

certain infectious diseases.• Ehrlichia species.

Atypical or Reactive Lymphocytes• Contain azurophilic granules.• Generally associated with disease such as

ehrlichiosis• May have cleaved nuclei• May have increased cytoplasm• May have increased basophilia in

cytoplasm• Changes caused by antigenic stimulation

secondary to vaccination or infection.

Lysosomal Storage Disorders• Rare• Inherited disease where substance is

abnormally is stored within the cells due to enzyme deficiency.

• Can cause skeletal or neurologic disorders• May contain vacuoles or certain granules.

Birman Cat Neutrophil Granulation Anomaly• Contain fine eosinophilic to magenta

granules.• Inherited autosomal-recessive trait• Neutrophil function is normal and cats are

healthy.

Chediak-Higashi Syndrome• Neutrophils in cats have large fused

lysosomes within the cytoplasm.• Stain pink or eosinophilic.• May have tendency to bleed because

platelet function is abnormal.• Generally are healthy cats.

Smudge Cells• May be called basket cells• Degenerative leukocytes that have

ruptured.• Small numbers are not considered

significant.• May be artifact when blood is held too

long.• May be associated with leukemia.