What are Monocytes?

Monocytes are the largest blood cells in the blood and the largest white blood cells. They are an important part of the body's defense system. Monocytes are derived from hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow and develop in the bone marrow. They are still immature cells when they enter the blood from the bone marrow. At present, it is considered to be the precursor of macrophages and dendritic cells, with obvious deformation movement, which can engulf and remove injured and aging cells and their fragments. Monocytes also participate in the immune response. After phagocytosing the antigen, they transfer the antigenic determinants to lymphocytes to induce specific immune responses in lymphocytes. Monocytes are also the main cellular defense system against intracellular pathogenic bacteria and parasites, and they also have the ability to recognize and kill tumor cells. Compared with other blood cells, monocytes contain more non-specific lipases and have stronger phagocytosis. When the body has inflammation or other diseases, it can cause the percentage of monocytes to change, so checking the monocyte count has become an important method to assist diagnosis.

Basic Information

Chinese name: Monocyte
Foreign name: monocytes

Cell origin: Hematopoietic stem cells in bone marrow
Diameter: 15-30m ^[1]
Use: Phagocytosis of foreign bodies to produce antibodies

Clinical significance of monocytes

There are physiological and pathological changes in the number of monocytes. The specific conditions are as follows:

Increase

(1) Physiological increase is more common in infants and children;

(2) Pathological increase: certain infections, such as typhoid fever, tuberculosis, malaria, etc .; certain blood diseases, such as monocyte leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease, etc .; acute infectious disease or recovery period of acute infection .

2. reduce

Not clinically significant, as monocytes themselves are present in very small amounts in the body.