Large basophilic cells in the bone marrow in iron deficiency anemia

Many large cells with a strongly basophilic cytoplasm and large nuclei with a delicate chromatin pattern and large nucleoli were studied in 1 mu sections of core biopsies in 8 patients with iron deficiency anemia and in 5 patients with pernicious anemia. In 2 normal controls these cells were rare. Possible features of granulocytic differentiation were assessed with the Giemsa stain and with the naphtol-ASD-chloroacetate esterase reaction which is indicative of early granule formation: the large cells were constantly negative. In thin sections the morphological appearances of the large basophilic cells are rather similar in such different haematological disorders as pernicious anemia or iron deficiency anemia. A clear difference can be demonstrated by karyometry, which shows that the large basophilic cells in pernicious anemia are significantly larger than those in iron deficiency anemia or in the normal control.