I saw something down the microscope you don’t see every day. And now I have a webcam, I can record what I saw on this blog using my own pictures, rather than blagging from Google Images.
The above picture has three neutrophils, all demonstrating the Pelger–Huet anomaly. Originally observed in Europeans, the Pelger-Huet anomaly has been seen in most racial groups of all ages with an equal gender ratio.
Pelger-Huet cells survive normally in circulation and demonstrate normal phagocytosis and normal ability to kill microorganisms. The defect (if that is the correct term) is in the terminal differentiation of neutrophils. PHA is inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern. Effectively the cells look left-shifted, but are functionally normal.
Eosinophils are also affected but monocytes and lymphocytes are normal in appearance.
There’s plenty of on-line references about this - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelger-Huet_anomaly is as good as most of them.
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