Ultrastructural features of the developing eosinophils in bone marrow and spleen of the musk shrew, Suncus murinus

Eosinophilopoiesis in the musk shrew, Suncus murinus, a representative of the order Insectivora, was studied by light and electron microscopy. To examine biochemical features of cytoplasmic granules, extraction with proteolytic enzymes was carried out on ultrathin sections of bone marrow. In this species, eosinophils are produced in the same manner in both spleen and bone marrow. Developing eosinophils were distinguished as belonging to four stages, recognized by ultrastructural changes in cytoplasmic organelles as well as the eosinophilic granules during maturation. Granulogenesis began by budding of vacuoles containing flocculent material from the concave face of the Golgi apparatus, in the promyelocyte to myelocyte stage. The matrix of developing granules transformed into a finely granular structure, and the large spherical granules of mature eosinophils were homogeneous without crystalline cores. It was shown by proteolytic enzyme extraction that the proteinaceous cores of mature granules were uniformly removed; there was no evidence that they contained crystalloid inclusions. These results indicate that shrew eosinophils can be regarded as cells that retain a prototype of eosinophil granules, probably like those of ancestral mammals rather than those of higher living Mammalia.