Bronchial lining cells may appear in sheets and clumps on cytospin preparations. Several bronchial lining cells that are grouped together are indicated by the arrows in the image on this page. A few bronchial lining cells are intact and have identifiable cilia.
Many of these cells appear as rectangular smears with a smudged nucleus at the base. This is not uncommon in cytospins of BALs. The location of the nucleus at the base of the elongated cytoplasm shape identifies these cells as bronchial lining cells.
