Fate of Erythrocytes Containing Heinz Bodies in the Spleen and Liver of Dogs and Turkeys

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Abstract
Similar phagocytic and digestive events involving erythrocytes containing Heinz bodies occured in Kupffer cells and splenic macrophages of the dog. The earliest stage was confinement of a nonhemolyzed red blood cell by the membrane of a phagocytic vacuole. Next, there was leaching of hemoglobin into the phagocytic vacuole, followed by fragmentation and loss of the erythrocytic membrane. A round phagocytic vacuole containing hemosiderin was the fate of phagocytized erythrocytes containing Heinz bodies. There were Heinz bodies in both the cytoplasm and nucleoplasm of turkey erythrocytes. Such erythrocytes occurred in phagocytic vacuoles of Kupffer cells and splenic macrophages and evolved through a process similar to that occurring in canine tissue, except that a single vacuole often contained one or more erythrocytes.