ELECTRON MICROSCOPIC STUDIES ON GRANULOCYTOPOIESIS IN SLENDER SALAMANDER

The morphology of differentiating heterophils and eosinophils of the slender salamander, Batrachoseps attenuatus, was studied with electron microscopy. Enzymes of the granules of both cell types appear to arise from the Golgi cisternae. An agranular stem cell was not observed and the least differentiated cell type encountered was an “early” promyelocyte having small granules which are morphologically distinct from mature granules of either the heterophil or eosinophil series. Heterophil myelocytes and later stages contain only one population of granule which is fibrous in content. Eosinophils likewise possess but one type of granule; the granules are larger than those of heterophils, have a homogeneous content, and lack the crystallin core so characteristic of mammalian eosinophils. Copyright © 1969 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.