Focus of plasma cell apoptosis

Transmission electron micrograph of a plasma cell undergoing apoptosis. The cell membranes are almost impossible to detect due to the amount of rough endoplasmic reticulum and vacuolar cell contents that have been extruded. This process leads to disruption of the cell membrane and dispersal of the cytoplasm. The nucleusis in the early stages of the chromatin condensation that is typical of apoptosis and shows typical swelling of the nuclear envelope. Here the nucleus is approximately 1.8nm across.