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Patent Pending Platelets, also called "thrombocytes", are blood cells whose function (along with the coagulation factors) is to stop bleeding. Platelets have no nucleus: they are fragments of cytoplasm which are derived from the megakaryocytes of the bone marrow, and then enter the circulation. These unactivated platelets are biconvex discoid structures shaped like a lens, 2–3 µm in greatest diameter. Platelets are found only in mammals, an adaptation that may have evolved to offset the risk of death from hemorrhage at childbirth – a risk unique to mammals.