What is a granulocyte? What is the difference between a monocyte and a Red Blood Cell?
Granulocytes are a category of white blood cells characterised by the presence of granules in their cytoplasm. They are also called polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN or PML) because of the varying shapes of the nucleus, which is usually lobed into three segments. In common parlance, the term polymorphonuclear leukocyte often refers specifically to neutrophil granulocytes, the most abundant of the granulocytes. Granulocytes or PMN are released from the bone marrow by the regulatory complement proteins. There are three types of granulocytes, distinguished by their appearance under Wright’s stain: * Neutrophil granulocytes * Eosinophil granulocytes * Basophil granulocytes Their names are derived from their staining characteristics; for example, the most abundant granulocyte is the neutrophil granulocyte, which has neutrally-staining cytoplasmic granules. Other white blood cells which are not granulocytes (“agranulocytes”) are mainly lymphocytes and monocytes. —————————–
