You are now at the beginning of the WBC Basics study section. Leukocytes or WBCs are found in a thin gray layer known as the buffy coat in centrifuged blood. Above the leukocytes lie the platlets.
Leukocytes are primarily defensive, but also have important sanitation and recycling duties.
The chromatin is dense and clumped with distinct lighter areas of parachromatin. The term neutrophil refers to the cell type not to the degree of differentiation. The large orange granules of the eosinophil make the eosinophil the most readily recognizable cell in the blood. The purple-black, often large coarse irregularly sized granules of the basophil are chacteristic and may obscure the nucleus of this relatively uncommon cell. The mature nucleus is segmented into 2-3 lobes.