Intravascular phagocytosis in the rabbit bone marrow: a possible fate of normal senescent red cells.
Perisinal macrophages in the rabbit bone marrow can penetrate the sinus wall and phagocytose circulating red cells intraluminally. Serial sectioning reveals that the penetration occurs through the cytoplasm of a single endothelial cell. This phenomenon may provide an effective mechanism for monitoring the circulation and removing normal senescent red cells.
D000818:Animals; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004912:Erythrocytes; D008264:Macrophages / Q000502:physiology; D010587:Phagocytosis; D011817:Rabbits; D013997:Time Factors