Changes

* May be binucleate.

* May be binucleate.

* Tend to remain in the lesion.

* Tend to remain in the lesion.

* It is thought by some people that they may not phagocytose, but secrete substances directed against the agent.

* It is thought by some people that they may not phagocytose, but instead secrete substances directed against the foreign agent.

 

====Giant cells====

====Giant cells====

<p>Many macrophages may fuse together to form giant cells (Langhan’s cells), which with their greater cytoplasmic volume and number of lysosomes are able to engulf and deal with large foreign particles/bodies. They are thought to form when two or more macrophages attempt to engulf the same organism and are multinucleated (with two to several hundred per cell).</p><p>The nuclei can be scattered throughout the cytoplasm, clumped in the centre in foreign body granulomas or appear in a horseshoe shape at the periphery of the cytoplasm at one end in tuberculosis and some other granulomas. In the past, the morphology of these giant cells was correlated with the agent responsible for inflammation, although the distinction is not absolute.</p>

<p>Many macrophages may fuse together to form giant cells (Langhan’s cells), which with their greater cytoplasmic volume and number of lysosomes are able to engulf and deal with large foreign particles/bodies. They are thought to form when two or more macrophages attempt to engulf the same organism and are multinucleated (with two to several hundred per cell).</p><p>The nuclei can be scattered throughout the cytoplasm, clumped in the centre in foreign body granulomas or appear in a horseshoe shape at the periphery of the cytoplasm at one end in tuberculosis and some other granulomas. In the past, the morphology of these giant cells was correlated with the agent responsible for inflammation, although the distinction is not absolute.</p>