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Science 2 March 1973:
Vol. 179. no. 4076, pp. 912 - 913
DOI: 10.1126/science.179.4076.912
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Articles

Fate of the Nucleus of the Marrow Erythroblast

Mehdi Tavassoli 1 and William H. Crosby 1

1 L. C Jacobson Blood Center, Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation, La Jolla, California 92037

Nucleated red cells lose their nuclei during passage through the endothelium of marrow sinuses. The passage occurs through cytoplasmic pores which are not gaps at the junction of two endothelial cells but perforations within the endothelium. Enucleation occurs because the pores are of relatively fixed size. Whereas the cytoplasm is flexible and squeezes through the pore, the nucleus is rigid and cannot conform to the pore size. It is, thus, caught, and the red cell becomes enucleated.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)