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Reticulocyte count
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A reticulocyte count is a blood test that counts how many reticulocytes are circulating. A reticulocyte is an immature red blood cell, one that has not finished forming yet but is already out in the bloodstream.
They are made by the bone marrow, the spongy tissue inside the bones. It releases them into the blood like that, half finished, and there they finish maturing into complete red blood cells, the ones that carry oxygen from the lungs to the whole body. That last stretch takes them a day or two.
That is where the test gets its value. Since old red blood cells are dying off all the time, the marrow has to keep replacing them at the same rate. Counting reticulocytes is a way of looking in on that replacement. It is counting what just came off the assembly line to see whether the factory is working.
In brief
A reticulocyte count measures how many reticulocytes are in the blood; reticulocytes are immature red blood cells, still developing.
The bone marrow makes them and releases them into the blood, where they mature into red blood cells over a day or two.
The test therefore shows whether the marrow is producing the right number of red blood cells as the old ones die off.
It is counting what just came off the assembly line to see whether the factory is working.
Sources (1)
- MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of MedicineReticulocyte Count, MedlinePlus Medical TestsPublished
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