<unk> s, from peripheral blood, under light microscopy. Note the irregularly shaped, non-circular cells in the image.<unk>  (from the Greek word ἄκανθα acantha, meaning 'thorn'), in biology and medicine, refers to an abnormal form of red blood cell that has a spiked cell membrane, due to thorny projections. A similar term is spur cells. Often they may be confused with echinocytes or schistocytes.<unk> s have coarse, weirdly spaced, variably sized crenations, resembling many-pointed stars. They are seen on blood films in, among others abetalipoproteinemia, liver disease, chorea<unk> sis, McLeod syndrome, and several inherited neurological and other disorders, such as neuroacanthocytosis, anorexia nervosa, infantile pyknocytosis, hypothyroidism, idiopathic neonatal hepatitis, alcoholism, congestive splenomegaly, Zieve syndrome, and chronic granulomatous disease.
Acanthocyte
Echinocyte
Centrocyte
Koilocyte
Podocyte
Agranulocyte
Elliptocyte
Melanocyte