May 25th – Acanthocyte (from the Greek word acantha, meaning ‘thorn’), in biology and medicine, refers to a form of red blood cell that has a spiked cell membrane, due to abnormal thorny projections. A similar term is spur cells. Often they may be confused with echinocytes or schistocytes. Acanthocytes have coarse, weirdly spaced, variably sized crenations, resembling many-pointed stars. They are seen on blood films in, among others abetalipoproteinemia, liver disease, chorea acanthocytosis, McLeod syndrome, and several inherited neurological and other disorders, such as neuroacanthocytosis, anorexia nervosa, infantile pyknocytosis, hypothyroidism, idiopathic neonatal hepatitis, alcoholism, congestive splenomegaly, Zieve syndrome, and chronic granulomatous disease.
#365DaysOfMicroscopy