Blood
by: Cole S
Overall Blood Characteristics
- In the average adult body weighing 150-180 lbs, there is approximately 1.2-1.5 gallons of blood
- supplies oxygen to tissues
- removes waste
- regulates body pH and core temperature
How Blood is Made and Where it's Made
- Blood is made in the red bone marrow in bones
- It is made from a stem cell
Blood Composition and Other Characteristics
Plasma is 55% of blood and a combination of platelets, leukocytes and erythrocytes make up the other 45%. Also, there is a small percentage of a buffy coat which contains mostly white blood cells.
- Red blood cells - Also known as erthrocytes, oxygen and carbon dioxide transport.
- White blood cells - Also known as neutrophil, immune defense
- Platelets - Also known as thrombocytes, blood clotting
- Plasma - protein reserve in human body, keeps electrolytes balanced
Vocabulary
- Plasma protein - include albumins (help thicken and maintain the blood volume), globulins (include antibodies), fibrinogen and prothrombin (necessary for blood clotting)
- blood serum - plasma minus its clotting factors such as fibrinogen
- erythrocyte - red blood cells
- hemoglobin - red pigment in blood that joins with oxygen to form oxyhemoglobin
- oxyhemoglobin - efficient transport of large quantities of oxygen to body cells
- carbaminohemoglobin - formed by hemoglobin carrying a small portion of the CO2 carried by the blood
- leukocytes - white blood cells
- neutrophils - most numerous of the phagocytes which protect the body from invading microorganisms
- eosinophils - serve as weak phagocytes, serve as protection against parasites
- basophils - secrete histamine in peripheral blood, also produce heparin which helps prevent blood from clotting
- lymphocytes - help protect from infections, function in the immune mechanism
- monocytes - largest leukocytes, aggressive phagocytes
- macrophage - specialized monocytes that grow to several times their original size after migrating out of the bloodstream
- granulocyte has a granule in the cytoplasm of the cell that is easily distinguished when stained, the agranulocyte has no granule
- thrombocytes - aggregate with thrombin to play a key role in blood clotting
- prothrombin activator - formed by clotting factors and other factors present in plasma, triggers clotting processes
- thrombin - formed when prothrombin is converted, reacts with fibrinogen
- fibrinogen - a normal plasma protein
- fibrin - fibrous gel, helps form long term seal for damaged blood vessel
- coagulation - process where blood forms clots
- thrombus - when a clot stays in the place it is formed
- thrombosis - condition where a clot stays in the place it is formed
- embolus - when part of clot dislodges into bloodstream
- embolism - condition where part of clot dislodges into bloodstream