Chicken Blood Smear Under the Microscope
Chicken Blood Smear, Gallus gallus domesticus
This is a smear of chicken blood stained with Wright-Giemsa. Classes use it to compare bird blood with human blood, since bird red blood cells are oval and keep their nucleus.
This peripheral blood smear specimen demonstrates the characteristic cellular composition of avian blood from a domestic chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus). Unlike mammalian erythrocytes, avian red blood cells (erythrocytes) are oval, flattened disc-shaped cells containing prominent centrally located, oval to elongated heterochromatic nuclei. Interspersed within the dense erythrocyte population are leukocytes, including heterophils with distinctive rod-shaped cytoplasmic granules, eosinophils, basophils, lymphocytes, and small nucleated thrombocytes responsible for hemostasis. Standard Romanowsky staining (Wright-Giemsa) colors the cytoplasm pale pinkish-orange and highlights the dense purple nuclear chromatin, providing a classic histological view of non-mammalian vertebrate hematology.
What to look for
- Red blood cells: Oval cells with pale pink to orange cytoplasm and a dark purple oval nucleus in the center.
- Heterophils: White blood cells with rod-shaped granules in their cytoplasm, the bird version of neutrophils.
- Lymphocytes: Round white blood cells with a large dark nucleus and a thin rim of blue cytoplasm.
- Thrombocytes: Small oval cells with a nucleus that help blood clot, taking the role of platelets.
At each magnification
Low power (about 4x)
A thin, even film of cells across the slide.
Medium power (about 10x)
Rows of oval red blood cells, each with a dark center.
High power (about 40x)
The nucleus in each red blood cell and the granules in white blood cells.
Questions and answers
Do chicken red blood cells have a nucleus?
Yes. Chicken and other bird red blood cells are oval and keep their nucleus, which shows as a dark purple oval in the middle of each cell. Mammal red blood cells, including human ones, lose their nucleus as they mature.
How is chicken blood different from human blood under a microscope?
Chicken red blood cells are oval and nucleated, while human red blood cells are round, have no nucleus, and have a pale center. Chickens also have nucleated thrombocytes instead of platelets, and heterophils instead of neutrophils.
- Category
- Vertebrates
- Scan magnification
- 20x
- Stain
- Wright-Giemsa
- Tags
- chicken blood smear, Gallus gallus domesticus, avian blood, nucleated erythrocytes, red blood cells, heterophil
Viewing this slide in class
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