Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index Basophils are the least common of the granulocytes. They contain large cytoplasmic granules which obscure the nucles under the microscope. However when the nucleus is visable it is sceen to have 2 lobes. When basophils leave the blood they become mast cells. These cells play a major part in the inflammatory process, having a rapid responce to specific allergens and releasing heparin, histamine and serotonin. This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.