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Primary Hematopoietic and Lymphoid Tissue ›› Bone Marrow ›› Myeloid ›› Erythroid (RBCs & Precursors) ›› Normal

Polychromatophilic Normoblast

Polychromatophilic Normoblast
Polychromatophilic Normoblast
Polychromatophilic Normoblast

Microscopic Features:

  • 2x larger than a mature RBC
  • Intermediate nuclear to cytoplasmic ratio
  • Round Nucleus with mature chromatin (clumped)
  • Nucleoli are Absent
  • Cytoplasm is grayish in color

Normal % blood-PB, marrow-BM, lymphoid tissue-LN:

  • PB: None
  • BM: Many
  • LN: None

May Resemble:

Differential Diagnoses:

Increased in:
Reactive Erythroid Hyperplasia
Post-erythropoietin therapy
Polycythemia Vera

Classic Immunophenotype:

  • CD45-
  • CD117-/+
  • CD235a (Glycophorin A) dim+
  • CD71+

Cartoon Image:

Polychromatophilic Normoblast cartoon
Click and dragRed blood cell for scalefor direct comparison

Misc:

Normally confined in bone marrow where they comprise many of the nucleated red blood cell precursors.Note: As Erythroid precursors mature, the color of their cytoplasm changes from blue to gray to red-orange (this is due to the increase in number of hemoglobin molecules within the red cells as they mature). Additionally, the nucleus of the red blood cell will become more dense as it matures, eventually excreting from the cell forming the mature RBC.