| Cell type
| Appearance
| Function
|
| Leukocytes (white blood cells)
|
| Monocytes
|
- Large, indented (horseshoe) nucleus
|
- Phagocytosis
- Antigen presentation
|
| Neutrophils
|
- Lightly staining cytoplasm (hence neutro-)
- Multilobed nucleus (3+ lobes typical), hence it is also known as a polymorphonucleus leukocyte (PMN, or simply "poly")
|
|
| Eosinophils
|
- Eosinophilic cytoplasm (stain deep pink)
- Typically bilobed nucleus
|
|
| Basophils
|
- Basophilic cytoplasm
- Densely granulated
|
- Inflammatory response (eg, release histamine)
|
| Lymphocytes (B- and T-cells)
|
- Large nucleus (approximately the size of a red blood cell)
- High nuclear-to-cytoplasmic ratio (only a small sliver of cytoplasm is typically visible)
|
- Cell-mediated immunity (T-cells)
- Humoral immunity (B-cells, antibody release)
|
| Connective tissue cells
|
| Macrophages
|
- Large
- Often contain inclusion bodies (often stained with India ink)
| Phagocyte
|
| Megakaryocytes
|
| Produces platelets (thrombocytes)
|
| Mast cells
|
- Oblong cell
- Central nucleus
- Eosinophilic, granulated cytoplasm
| Release histamine
|
