Neutrophils

• Fifty to seventy percent of circulating WBCs are neutrophils
• Each mature neutrophil has a diameter nearly twice that of a red blood cell
• The nucleus of a neutrophil is very dense and arranged into a series of lobes like beads on a string
• Neutrophils are highly mobile and are usually the first WBCs to arrive at an injury site
• Neutrophils are active phagocytes specializing in attacking and digesting bacteria
• Neutrophils have a short lift span, surviving in the bloodstream for ten hours
• A neutrophil dies after engulfing over a dozen bacteria, but its death and breakdown release chemicals that attract other neutrophils to the site