If a blood smear is dried too slowly, the red blood cells are often:

If a blood smear is dried too slowly, the red blood cells are often:

• A. Clumped
• B. Crenated
• C. Lysed
• D. Destroyed

Answer: (B)

When a blood smear dries, the way it dries can distort cell shapes. If drying occurs slowly, water evaporates more gradually and solute concentrations around the cells rise, creating a hypertonic environment around each red cell. Water leaves the cells, the cells shrink, and their membranes develop irregular, spiky, scalloped borders. That characteristic shrunken, crenated appearance is why slow drying of a smear often yields crenated red blood cells.

When a blood smear dries, the way it dries can distort cell shapes. If drying occurs slowly, water evaporates more gradually and solute concentrations around the cells rise, creating a hypertonic environment around each red cell. Water leaves the cells, the cells shrink, and their membranes develop irregular, spiky, scalloped borders. That characteristic shrunken, crenated appearance is why slow drying of a smear often yields crenated red blood cells.