Charcot-Leyden crystal /shärkō″lī″dən/ [Jean M. Charcot; Ernst V. von Leyden, German physician, 1832–1910] , any of the proteinaceous crystalline structures shaped like narrow, double pyramids found in the sputum of persons suffering from asthma and found in the feces of dysentery patients. Charcot-Leyden crystals occur in association with the fragmentation of eosinophils. Also called asthma crystal, leukocytic crystal.
