For PC-I Medicine Students

By: Zelalem A.
Hematopoiesis /Hemopoiesis
 It is the formation and development of blood
cells.

 In the earliest phase of human embryogenesis,

blood cells arise from the yolk sac mesoderm.

 In the second trimester, hemopoiesis (also called

hematopoiesis) occurs primarily in the
developing liver, with the spleen also playing a
role.
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 Skeletalelements begin to ossify and bone
marrow develops in their medullary cavities, so
that, in the third trimester, bone marrow
increasingly becomes the major hemopoietic
organ.

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 The principal hematopoietic organ is the
bone marrow, where:

 The red blood cells (erythrocytes)

 Granular white blood cells (granular leukocytes),

and certain agranular white blood cells
(lymphocytes) and

 Blood platelets (thrombocytes) are formed.

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 Itis mostly lymphocytes that are formed in
the other hematopoietic organs. that is:

 The lymph nodes

 Spleen and
 Thymus

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 Blood- special type of connective tissue
 Has two components
1. Formed elements (45%) - the actual cellular
components of blood
a. Erythrocytes (Red blood cells)
b. Leukocytes (White blood cells)
c. Thrombocytes (Platelets )
2. Plasma (55%) - is the fluid portion of the blood.

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 Erythrocytes (red blood cells) are terminally
differentiated, lack nuclei, and are packed with
the O2-carrying protein hemoglobin.

 Under normal conditions, these corpuscles never

leave the circulatory system.

 They are approximately 7.5 m in diameter, 2.6 m

thick at the rim, and only 0.75 m thick in the
center.

 This biconcave shape provides a large surface-to-

volume ratio and facilitates gas exchange.
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 Erythrocyte maturation involves hemoglobin
synthesis and formation of a small, enucleated,
biconcave corpuscle. Several major changes take
place during erythrocyte maturation.

 Cell and nuclear volume decrease, and the

nucleoli diminish in size and disappear.

 The chromatin becomes increasingly denser until

the nucleus presents a pyknotic appearance and
is finally extruded from the cell.

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 There is a gradual decrease in the number of
polyribosome (basophilia decreases), with a
simultaneous increase in the amount of
hemoglobin (an acidophilic protein) within
the cytoplasm.

 Mitochondria and other organelles gradually

disappear.

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 Leukocytes(white blood cells) migrate to the
tissues where they become functional and
perform various activities.

 According to the type of cytoplasmic

granules and the shape of their nuclei,
leukocytes are divided into two groups:

 polymorphonuclear granulocytes and

 mononuclear agranulocytes.

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 Granulocytes possess two types of granules:

1. The specific granules that bind neutral, basic,

or acidic stains and have specific functions and

1. The azurophilic granules, which are

specialized lysosomes, stain darkly, and are
present at some level in all leukocytes.

 Granulocytes have polymorphic nuclei with

two or more lobes

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 Agranulocytes
do not have specific granules,
but they do contain azurophilic granules
(lysosomes).

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 constitute 60–70% of circulating leukocytes.

 They are 12–15 m in diameter in blood

smears, with nuclei having two to five lobes
linked by thin nuclear extensions.

 Neutrophils are inactive and spherical while

circulating but become actively amoeboid
during diapedesis and upon adhering to solid
substrates such as collagen in the ECM.

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 Eosinophils are far less numerous than
neutrophils, constituting only 2–4% of
leukocytes in normal blood.
 Characterized by bilobed nucleus

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 Basophils
are also about 12–15 m in diameter,
but make up less than 1% of blood leukocytes
and are therefore difficult to find in smears
of normal blood.

 The nucleus is divided into two or more

irregular lobes, but the large specific
granules overlying the nucleus usually
obscure its shape.

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 Lymphocytes constitute a family of
leukocytes with spherical nuclei

 They can be subdivided into functional

groups according to distinctive surface
molecules (markers) that can best be
distinguished immunocytochemically, notably

 T lymphocytes,
 B lymphocytes, and
 Natural killer (NK) cells.

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 Lymphocytes vary in life span according to
their specific functions;

 Some live only a few days and others survive

in the circulating blood or other tissues for
many years.

 They are the only type of leukocytes that,

following diapedesis, can return from the
tissues back to the blood.

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 circulating
lymphocytes originate mainly in
the thymus and the peripheral lymphoid
organs (eg, spleen, lymph nodes, tonsils
etc.).

 However, all lymphocyte progenitor cells

originate in the bone marrow.

 Some of these lymphocytes migrate to the

thymus, where they acquire the full
attributes of T lymphocytes.
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 Other bone marrow lymphocytes
differentiate into B lymphocytes in the bone
marrow and then migrate to peripheral
lymphoid organs, where they inhabit and
multiply in their own special compartments.

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 Monocytes are bone marrow–derived
agranulocytes with diameters varying from
12 to 20 m.

 The nucleus is large, off-center, and may be

oval, kidney-shaped, or distinctly U-shaped

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 Mature monocytes enter the bloodstream,
circulate for about eight hours, and then
enter tissues where they mature as
macrophages (or other phagocytic cells) and
function for several months.

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 Circulating
monocytes are precursor cells of
the mononuclear phagocyte system.

 After crossing the walls of postcapillary

venules, monocytes differentiate into
macrophages in connective tissues, microglia
in the CNS, osteoclasts in bone, etc.

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 The monoblast is a committed progenitor
cell that is virtually identical to the
myeloblast in its morphologic characteristics.

 Further differentiation leads to the

promonocyte, a large cell (up to 18 m in
diameter) with basophilic cytoplasm and a
large, slightly indented nucleus.

 Promonocytes divide twice as they develop

into monocytes
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 Blood platelets (thrombocytes) are
nonnucleated, disklike cell fragments 2–4 m
in diameter.

 Plateletspromote blood clotting and help

repair minor tears or leaks in the walls of
blood vessels, preventing loss of blood.

 Normal platelet counts range from 200,000

to 400,000 per microliter of blood and they
have a life span of about 10 days.
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 In stained blood smears, platelets often
appear in clumps. Each platelet has a lightly
stained peripheral zone, the hyalomere

 And a central zone containing darker-staining

granules, called the granulomere

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 plateletsoriginate in the red bone marrow
by dissociating from mature megakaryocytes
(Gr. megas, big, + karyon, nucleus, + kytos),
which in turn differentiate from
megakaryoblasts in a process driven by
thrombopoietin.

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