Whilst looking at some blood films today I found a case with rather prominent neutrophil drumsticks. I used to know what they are. I refreshed my memory. Neutrophil drumsticks are evident in females – they are the inactive X-chromosome. Women do not have two active X-chromosomes. One is randomly deactivated. (It’s not so random in marsupials, however!)
To be honest I’m not sure than much of the Lyon Hypothesis is particularly relevant to my daily round. It somehow explains tortoiseshell cats, but for my point of view, women’s neutrophils have a protruberence. For the purposes of a blood film, that’s good enough for me….
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