Haematological Response to Infection and Bone Marrow Failure Flashcards
Why is IL-3 so important for production of several different WBCs and platelets?
It acts on all cell lineages from the start.
How are megakaryocytes formed?
Within cytoplasm you have mitosis occuring within the cytoplasm several times creating exponential growth of nucleus numbers
How do platelets form in the nucleus of megakaryocytes?
Platelets are beginning to form when the nucleus is starting to die. When the nucleus dies it is deconstructed into the various components it is made up of
Where are plasma cells most common?
Plasma cells are very few in the blood and most frequent at the bone marrow
What are the types of haemotlogical response?
Neutrophilia
Lymphocytosis
Reactive bone marrow hyperplasia; aplasia
What do neutrophils do?
They are attracted to and move to site of infection they then adhere to foreign particle and encircle the particles and start to form a phagosome and consume the pathogen releaseing the fused primary and secondary granules.
What do neutrophil rleased granules do?
The released granules cause destruction of invading organism.
What causes neutrophilia?
Infection (bacteria or viruses)
Acute inflammation
Stress
Exertion
Pregnancy
Surgery, trauma
What happens with high neutrophil counts?
Increased granulation (toxic environment for bacteria)
What are the common symptoms from bacterial infections?
Fever, pain and lethargy
What kind of infections can bacterial infections cause?
Localised (in skin, tonsil, bone)
Generalised (Causing hypotension, fluid shifts, and organ failure)
How does the bone marrow respond to bacterial infection?
Bone marrow produces more granulocytes (granulocytic hyperplasia)
Blood neutrophilia
Left shift (presence of band forms in neutrophils in blood)
Toxic granulation
Dohle bodies
What signal stimulates pluripotent stem cells to produce more neutrophils?
IL-3 and granulocyte colony stimulating factor
How long does granulopoeisis take typically?
5 - 7 days (5 under lots of stress)
What happens to neutrophil count immediately after bacterial infection?
It drops briefly due to neutrophils moving into the sites of infection
What are the most common neutrophilia causing organisms?
Staphylococcus, streptococcus and neisseria
What are Dohle bodies?
Blue lines in neutrophils found after long-standing severe bacterial sepsis.
They may be aggregates
What does multi-organ failure look like on blood film?
Causes fragmentation haemolysis (schistocytes) with toxic neutrophils and thrombocytopenia.
(might not always look like this so don’t take as fact)
What morphological changes happen in neutrophils in response to bacterial infections?
Granulation (toxic granulation)
Dohle bodies
Bacteria
Vacuolation containing bacteria as well as some toxic changes
What is the result of hypercellular bone marrow during bacterial infections?
Granulocytic hyperplasia
Increased macrophages with phagocytosed debris
Hypercellular bone marrow trephine and aspirate
What is a good indication of reactive granulocytic hyperplasia?
Presence of less white fat blobs in bone marrow
What happens in response to mycobacterium infection?
Production of more monocytes
What do monocytes form in the bone marrow in response to mycobacterial infection?
Granulomas which have negatively stained rod-like appearace
What are the symptoms of viral infections?
Fever, lassitude (lethargy)
Enlarged lymph nodes, liver and spleen
Pharyngitis
Thrombocytopenia (can be a complication of EBV)
Muscle and joint pain
Reactive lymphocytosis
Which viral infections exhibit reactive lymphocytosis?
Infectious mononucleosis
Cytomegalovirus
Varicella infection
Viral hepatitis
Dengue fever
What does lymphocytosis look like on the blood slide?
Change in look from small circular nucleus to cell with long morphology and nucleus. Pale sites present where there are lots of golgi and ER structures. Cytoplasm looks greyish.
This greatly resembles monocytes.
What is infectious mononucleosis caused by?
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)
Who gets EBV most often?
Teenagers and young adults
What are the symptoms of infectious mononucleosis?
Lassitude (lethargy)
Fever
Pharyngitis
Lymphadenopathy
Hepatosplenomegaly
Thrombocytopaenia is common
Haemolytic anaemia (spherocytes (immune mediated)) [this is in rare cases and in some cases total bone marrow failure]
What does blood film of infectious mononucleosis look like?
Virally infected B lymphocytes and activated reactive T lymphocytes
How common is haemolytic anaemia in people with EBV?
It is rare and in some cases can cause total bone marrow failure which is extremely rare