The plasma cells or plasmocytes develop from some types of B-lymphocytes, folowing antigen recognition by the lymphocytes.
They are spherical or ovoid, whose cytoplasm stains more with hematoxylin than eosin due to the presence of a large amount of RNA in ribosomes in their well developed rough endoplasmic reticulum. They actively synthesize and secrete large amounts of proteins most of which are different classes of immunoglobulins (antibodies).
Their nuclei are spherical, usually displaced off the cell center. They usually contain large clumps of heavily stained chromatin, some of them often placed at the nuclear periphery, under the nuclear membrane.
Another feature very often seen with a light microscope around part of the surface of the nuclei is a clear, non-stained, halo or area similar to a crescent moon. It is the region of the greatly developed Golgi apparatus of these cells highly involved in protein synthesis. The Golgi area does not stain well by the dyes commonly used in tissue sections.
After clicking or hovering over the imag,e the cytoplasm of plasma cells becomes highlighted in blue, some crescents in red.
and lymphocytes in green.
Identify unlabelled plasma cells in the figure.
Plasma cells and lymphocytes can also be seen on page 12-14 and in thenext pages.
Inflammatory infiltrate. Staining: HE. Magnification: medium.
