Unstable hemoglobins: peripheral blood smear and Heinz body preparation. Peripheral smear (left) shows “bite” cells with pitted-out semicircular areas of the red blood cell membrane as a result of removal of Heinz bodies by macrophages in the spleen. The Heinz body preparation (middle) shows increased Heinz bodies in the same specimen compared with a control (right). Reproduced with permission from Benz and Ebert.⁴¹