A megakaryoblast is a precursor cell to a

promegakaryocyte A promegakaryocyte is a precursor cell for a megakaryocyte. It arises from a megakaryoblast, into a promegakaryocyte and then into a megakaryocyte, which will eventually break off and become a platelet. The developmental stages of the megakaryoc ...

, which in turn becomes a

megakaryocyte A megakaryocyte (''mega-'' + '' karyo-'' + '' -cyte'', "large-nucleus cell") is a large bone marrow cell with a lobated nucleus responsible for the production of blood thrombocytes (platelets), which are necessary for normal blood clotting. In hum ...

during

haematopoiesis Haematopoiesis (, from Greek , 'blood' and 'to make'; also hematopoiesis in American English; sometimes also h(a)emopoiesis) is the formation of blood cellular components. All cellular blood components are derived from haematopoietic stem cells. ...

. It is the beginning of the

thrombocytic Platelets, also called thrombocytes (from Greek θρόμβος, "clot" and κύτος, "cell"), are a component of blood whose function (along with the coagulation factors) is to react to bleeding from blood vessel injury by clumping, thereby ini ...

series.

Development

The megakaryoblast derives from a

CFU-Meg CFU-Meg is a colony forming unit. Haematopoiesis in the bone marrow starts off from a haematopoietic stem cell (HSC) and this can differentiate into the myeloid and lymphoid cell lineages. In order to eventually produce a megakaryocyte, the haemato ...

colony unit of

pluripotential hemopoietic stem cell Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are the stem cells that give rise to other blood cells. This process is called haematopoiesis. In vertebrates, the very first definitive HSCs arise from the ventral endothelial wall of the embryonic aorta within t ...

s. (Some sources use the term "CFU-Meg" to identify the CFU.) The CFU-Meg derives from the

CFU-GEMM CFU-GEMM is a colony forming unit that generates myeloid cells. CFU-GEMM cells are the oligopotential progenitor cells for myeloid cells; they are thus also called common myeloid progenitor cells or myeloid stem cells. "GEMM" stands for granulocyte ...

(common myeloid progenitor).

Structure

These cells tend to range from 8μm to 30μm, owing to the variation in size between different megakaryoblasts. The nucleus is three to five times the size of the cytoplasm, and is generally round or oval in shape. Several nucleoli are visible, while the chromatin varies from cell to cell, ranging from fine to heavy and dense. The cytoplasm is generally basophilic and stains blue. In smaller cells, it contains no granules, but larger megakaryoblasts may contain fine granules.

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Leukocytes {{cell-biology-stub de:Thrombopoese#Megakaryoblast