Page 1 of 1

Unknown blood cells in blood sample

Posted: Thu May 02, 2019 3:41 am
by BrantleyIV
Does anyone have any idea what this is in this blood sample? (link to the short video attached) They are the same size as red blood cells but they look as if they have bumps or spikes coming out of them. I looked online trying to identify but there are a lot of different spikey blood cells things and none of them look exactly like this. I am new to this, so thank you in advance!

https://youtu.be/hMaEjse0ecw

Re: Unknown blood cells in blood sample

Posted: Sat May 04, 2019 12:26 am
by wstenberg
Acanthocytes. They are red blood cells.

Re: Unknown blood cells in blood sample

Posted: Sat May 04, 2019 1:03 am
by BrantleyIV
Thank you!

Re: Unknown blood cells in blood sample

Posted: Sat May 04, 2019 3:09 am
by Tom Jones
:roll: You should stop doing tests on yourself if you don't know what you're doing. :?

Perhaps a perusal of this might help: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/boo ... 1444398595 8-)

On the other hand, I've heard Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop might be good for this... :twisted:

Re: Unknown blood cells in blood sample

Posted: Sat May 04, 2019 12:40 pm
by mrsonchus
BrantleyIV wrote:This is is my own blood. So should I go to the doctor? I looked up acanthocytes and it seems like I may have an issue lol.
The rules of this forum may be helpful to you....

Re: Unknown blood cells in blood sample

Posted: Sat May 04, 2019 2:57 pm
by BrantleyIV
Sweet thanks Tom! That looks like an awesome resource. And this is my first microscope so I thought it would be cool to look at my blood. I suppose it was innocent ignorance ! I know this is not the original topic, but if anyone else has any resources for identifying subjects under the microscope that would be awesome. I looked at pond water the other day and there were so many cool little creatures I didn’t know how to identify and I would love to become knowledgeable on the microscopic world ! I also am very interested in aerobiology and the airborne allergens and molds. I have equipment to take air samples and view the particulates under the microscope. It’s fascinating. I will make a separate topic on this. Thanks.

Re: Unknown blood cells in blood sample

Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2019 12:41 pm
by SunshineLW
They are NOT "acanthocytes" as noted above. Acanthocytes (aka., Spur cell, or burr cell) are characterized by 1-20 irregularly spaced, membrane projections of variable lengths; projections may be blunt spurs or clubs. Unlike the cells in your video, acanthocytes tend to have longer, more irregular projections. (Note: Both acanthocytes and echinocytes are associated with the common name "burr cells", which is an unfortunate confusion.)

The cells in your video are echinocytes (aka., crenated cells, or burr cells). Technically, there are 3 different classifications of echinocytes. The RBCs in you video are Type II Echinocytes, which are characterized by multiple regularly-spaced blunt spicules on the RBC surface. Echinocytes vary from irregularly shaped cells (Type I), to regularly spaced blunt projections (Type II), to regularly spaced pointed projections (Type III).

There is always much conversation about the significance of echinocytes in a blood smear. This is because echinocytes can be associated with artifactual (non-pathologic) or pathologic changes. As a veterinarian, when I see echinocytes in a patient's blood smear (unless I am looking for them, such as in a snake-bite victim), they are usually ignored as echinocytes are a common artifactual change seen in blood smears of normal healthy patients. Interestingly enough, some species more commonly have echinocytes. For example, echinocytes are expected in any blood smear of swine and, less commonly, equine.

Most commonly, echinocytes form after prolonged exposure to alkaline glass while drying. They are thought to form when the surface area of the outer lipid layer of the cell membrane increases relative to that of the inner lipid layer because of insertion of lipids or amphipathic drugs. They may also form secondary to increases in pH, erythrocyte ATP depletion, damage by phospholipase, and cellular dehydration.

Pathologic echinocytosis has been associated with several disorders:
- Erythrocyte dehydration (especially with hyponatremia and hypochloremia)
- Strenuous exercise (common in racing horses)
- Doxorubicin toxicosis (chemotherapy)
- Reaction to anionic drugs (ex., phenothiazine)
- Phosphofructokinase deficiency
- Rattlesnake and coral snake envenomation

Differentiation of artifactual and pathologic echinocytes can be difficult. These three methods might assist with the challenge:
- Make another blood film and use a hair drier or other means to dry the blood quickly.
- Examine blood films prepared on plastic slides or coverslips. Crenation is less likely to occur on plastic.
- Examine erythrocytes in a wet mount of blood on a slide. If echinocytes are not present, those seen in the stained film can be considered artifacts.

[Source: Stockham, Steven L, and Michael A Scott. Fundamentals of Veterinary Clinical Pathology. 2nd ed., Blackwell Publishing, 2008.]