Heinz Body Anemia: An Ultrastructural Study. II. Red Cell Sequestration and Destruction

This study reports electron microscope observations on the process of red cell sequestration and destruction in the spleen and liver of the phenylhydrazine-treated rabbit. Damaged red cells are recognized by virtue of their Heinz bodies, a morphologic manifestation of the oxidative injury which they have sustained. Sequestration, in the spleen, involves the selective accumulation of damaged cells within the vascular spaces of the Billroth cords. Erythrophagocytosis and the intracellular digestion of red cells follows sequestration. More severely injured cells may undergo intravascular hemolysis within the splenic red pulp. In the liver, however, no evidence for the intravascular sequestration of injured red cells is observed. Damaged cells are removed directly from the sinusoidal blood by erythrophagocytosis. The selectivity of spleen and liver for red cells subjected to different degrees of injury is discussed in terms of the observed differences in the vascular architecture of the two organs.