Using its culling and pitting functions for RBCs, the spleen removes inclusion bodies, such as Heinz bodies (precipitates of insoluble globin), Howell-Jolly bodies (nuclear DNA remnants), whole nuclei, and malformed RBCs; thus, after splenectomy or in the functionally hyposplenic state, RBCs with these inclusions and acanthocytes (a type of malformed RBC) appear in the peripheral circulation.