Eosinophilic, neutrophilic and basophilic granulocytes in peripheral blood smear (human)

Stain: May-Grnwald-Giemsa (MGG). The eosinophil (1) is slightly larger than the neutrophil with a diameter of 12-17 m. The nucleus is usually bilobed (occasionally trilobed). Eosinophil granules are considerably larger than those of neutrophils, and are stained reddish-orange. These cells are very fragile and are often damaged during the spreading of blood films. The basophilic granulocyte (2) with a diameter of 10-14 m has also nuclear lobes which, however, are usually folded over each other and therefore are hardly visible as lobes. The black-purple granules are large and aggregated and tend to cover the nucleus. The neutrophilic granulocyte (3) has a segmented nucleus with three tot five lobes. The granules are very fine dust-like pale azurophilic.