Autophagy of mitochondria in rat bone marrow erythroid cells. Relation to nuclear extrusion.

Late erythroblasts and reticulocytes from bone marrow of male Wistar rats were studied by electron-microscopic stereology. Late erythroblasts with morphological signs of nuclear extrusion (EN+erythroblasts) and late erythroblasts without these signs (EN-erythroblasts) were analysed separately. The volumes of mitochondria, autophagosomes, autophagocytosed mitochondria, autophagocytosed cytoplasm and degraded material inside autophagosomes were calculated per unit volume of cytoplasm.