Based on their interpretation of scriptures such as Acts 15 : 28, 29 ( " Keep abstaining . . . from blood . " ), many Jehovah's Witnesses neither consume blood nor accept transfusions of whole blood or its major components : red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets ( thrombocytes ), and plasma.
22.
The term " thrombocyte " ( clot cell ) came into use in the early 1900s and is sometimes used as a synonym for platelet; but not generally in the scientific literature, except as a root word for other terms related to platelets ( e . g . " thrombocytopenia " meaning low platelets ).
23.
So, for example, " blast " forms of erythrocytes, leukocytes, and megakaryocytes start with an N : C ratio of 4 : 1, which decreases as they mature to 2 : 1 or even 1 : 1 ( with exceptions for mature thrombocytes and erythrocytes, which are anuclear cells, and mature lymphocytes, which only decrease to a 3 : 1 ratio and often retain the original 4 : 1 ratio ).
