Blood Project
By: Ashley Busch
Overall characteristics of blood (how much blood is in the body)
Thicker (more viscous) than water and flows more slowly than water
Blood volume
hormonal negative feedback systems maintain constant blood volume and osmotic pressure
4 to 5 liters in average female
5 to 6 liters in average male
8 % of total body weight
How is blood made (where is it made in our body's)
- In adults, only the marrow of certain bones (the spine, ribs, pelvis, and some others) continues to make blood.
- Bone marrow that actively produces blood cells is called red marrow, and bone marrow that no longer produces blood cells is called yellow marrow.
FOUR compounds of blood (red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma, platelets)
Red blood cells
- Red cells, or erythrocytes are relatively large microscopic cells without nuclei.
- Red cells normally make up 40-50% of the total blood volume.
- They transport oxygen from the lungs to all of the living tissues of the body and carry away carbon dioxide.
- The red cells are produced continuously in our bone marrow from stem cells at a rate of about 2-3 million cells per second.
- Hemoglobin is the gas transporting protein molecule that makes up 95% of a red cell.
- Each red cell has about 270,000,000 iron-rich hemoglobin molecules.
- People who are anemic generally have a deficiency in red cells, and subsequently feel fatigued due to a shortage of oxygen.
- The red color of blood is primarily due to oxygenated red cells.
- Human fetal hemoglobin molecules differ from those produced by adults in the number of amino acid chains.
- Fetal hemoglobin has three chains, while adults produce only two.
- As a consequence, fetal hemoglobin molecules attract and transport relatively more oxygen to the cells of the body.
White blood cells
- White cells, or leukocytes, exist in variable numbers and types but make up a very small part of blood's volume--normally only about 1% in healthy people. Leukocytes are not limited to blood.
- They occur elsewhere in the body as well, most notably in the spleen, liver, and lymph glands.
- Most are produced in our bone marrow from the same kind of stem cells that produce red blood cells.
- Others are produced in the thymus gland, which is at the base of the neck. Some white cells (called lymphocytes) are the first responders for our immune system.
- They seek out, identify, and bind to alien protein on bacteria, viruses, and fungi so that they can be removed.
- Other white cells (called granulocytes and macrophages) then arrive to surround and destroy the alien cells.
- They also have the function of getting rid of dead or dying blood cells as well as foreign matter such as dust and asbestos.
- Red cells remain viable for only about 4 months before they are removed from the blood and their components recycled in the spleen.
- Individual white cells usually only last 18-36 hours before they also are removed, though some types live as much as a year.
- The description of white cells presented here is a simplification.
- There are actually many specialized sub-types of them that participate in different ways in our immune responses.
Plasma
- Plasma is the relatively clear, yellow tinted water (92+%), sugar, fat, protein and salt solution which carries the red cells, white cells, and platelets.
- Normally, 55% of our blood's volume is made up of plasma.
- As the heart pumps blood to cells throughout the body, plasma brings nourishment to them and removes the waste products of metabolism.
- Plasma also contains blood clotting factors, sugars,lipids, vitamins, minerals, hormones, enzymes, anitbodies, and other proteins.
- It is likely that plasma contains some of every protein produced by the body approximately 500 have been identified in human plasma so far.
Platelets
- Platelets, or thrombocytes , are cell fragments without nuclei that work with blood clotting chemicals at the site of wounds.
- They do this by adhering to the walls of blood vessels, thereby plugging the rupture in the vascular wall.
- They also can release coagulating chemicals which cause clots to form in the blood that can plug up narrowed blood vessels.
- Thirteen different blood clotting factors, in addition to platelets, need to interact for clotting to occur.
- They do so in a cascading manner, one factor triggering another.
- Hemophiliacs lack the ability to produce either blood factor 8 or 9.
- Platelets are not equally effective in clotting blood throughout the entire day.
- The body's circadian rhythm system (its internal biological clock) causes the peak of platelet activation in the morning.
- This is one of the main reasons that strokes and heart attacks are more common in the morning.
Corrections
Plasma
- Plasma proteins - also termed serum proteins or blood proteins, are proteins present in blood plasma. They serve many different functions, including transport of lipids, hormones, vitamins and metals in the circulatory system and the regulation of a cellular activity and functioning and in the immune system.
- Serum globulin - participate in immune system.
- Fibrinogen -Blood coagulation
- Prothrombin - a protein present in blood plasma that is converted into active thrombin during coagulation.
RBC
- RBC looks like? - A red blood cell looks like a flat red disc that has round edges and a center lower then the edges. It is also very small. Smaller then a microliter.
- Oxyhemoglobin -
a bright red substance formed by the combination of hemoglobin with oxygen, present in oxygenated blood.
- Carbaminohemoglobin - is a compound of hemoglobin and carbon dioxide, and is one of the forms in which carbon dioxide exists in the blood. 10% of carbon dioxide is carried in blood this way.
WBC
- WBC looks like? - White blood cells look somewhat like a textured white ball. They are however hard to see when scientists look for them under a microscope and hence they have to be stayed with a bright colored dye for a clear view.
- Neutrophils - a neutrophilic white blood cell.
- Eosinophils - a white blood cell containing granules that are readily stained by eosin.
- Basophils - a basophilic white blood cell
- Lymphocytes - a form of small leukocyte (white blood cell) with a single round nucleus, occurring esp. in the lymphatic system.
- Monocytes - a large phagocytic white blood cell with a simple oval nucleus and clear, grayish cytoplasm.
- Macrophage - a large phagocytic cell found in stationary form in the tissues or as a mobile white blood cell, esp. at sites of infection.
- Granulocytes - a white blood cell with secretory granules in its cytoplasm, e.g., an eosinophil or a basophil.
- Agranulocytes - also known as mononuclear leukocytes, are white blood cells with a one-lobed nucleus. They are characterized by the absence of granules in their cytoplasm, which distinguishes them from granulocytes.
Platelets
- % of Platelets - less than one %.
- Platelets look like? - are only about 20% of the diameter of red blood cells, the most numerous cell of the blood. The normal platelet count is 150,000-350,000 per microliter of blood, but since platelets are so small, they make up just a tiny fraction of the blood volume. The principal function of platelets is to prevent bleeding.
- Prothrombin - a protein present in blood plasma that is converted into active thrombin during coagulation.
- Activator - is a protein that increases gene transcription of a gene or set of genes.
- Thrombin - an enzyme in blood plasma that causes the clotting of blood by converting fibrinogen to fibrin.
- Fibrinogen - a soluble protein present in blood plasma, from which fibrin is produced by the action of the enzyme thrombin.
- Fibrin - an insoluble protein formed from fibrinogen during the clotting of blood. It forms a fibrous mesh that impedes the flow of blood.
- Coagulation - The change, especially of blood, from liquid to solid; clotting. The process of changing from a liquid to a gel or solid state by a series of chemical reactions, especially the process that results in the formation of a blood clot. See more at clot.
- Thrombus - a blood clot formed in situ within the vascular system of the body and impeding blood flow.
- Thrombosis - local coagulation or clotting of the blood in a part of the circulatory system.
- Embolus - blood clot, air bubble, piece of fatty deposit, or other object that has been carried in the bloodstream to lodge in a vessel and cause an embolism.
- Embolism - obstruction of an artery, typically by a clot of blood or an air bubble.
Visuals added
- Clotting process
- The blood vessel contract
- Chemical signals are released from small sacs inside the platelets that attract other cells to the area and make them clump together to form what is called a platelet plug.
- Many different clotting factors work together in a series of complex chemical reactions (known as the coagulation cascade) to form a fibrin clot. The clot acts like a mesh to stop the bleeding.