"Blood delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells."
This topic covers the components of blood, including red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, and plasma, as well as their functions and roles in the cardiovascular system.
Red blood cells: Cells that carry oxygen throughout the body which are responsible for blood's red colour.
White blood cells: Cells involved in the body's immune response which protect the body from harmful invading pathogens.
Platelets: Cell fragments involved in blood clotting.
Plasma: The liquid portion of the blood: It carries nutrients, hormones, and waste products.
Hemoglobin: A protein in red blood cells that binds to oxygen to carry it through the bloodstream.
Blood type: The specific characteristics of an individual's blood that determine how it can be safely transfused.
Blood coagulation: The process by which blood forms clots to stop bleeding.
Blood vessels: The intricate system of arteries, veins, and capillaries that transport blood throughout the body.
Heart anatomy: The structure, function and physiology of the heart.
Cardiac cycle: The series of events that occur during one complete heartbeat and blood flow cycle.
Blood pressure: The force exerted by blood against the walls of blood vessels, measured by a combination of systolic and diastolic pressures.
Haematopoiesis: The process by which blood cells are produced in the bone marrow.
Blood diseases: Diseases and disorders that affect the composition, function, and/or movement of blood in the body.
red blood cells: Red blood cells are specialized cells that transport oxygen from the lungs to various tissues and remove carbon dioxide waste.
white blood cells: White blood cells are a critical part of the immune system that help defend the body against infection and disease.
platelets: Platelets are small cell fragments involved in blood clotting and release of growth factors for wound healing.
"Blood is composed of blood cells suspended in blood plasma."
"Plasma, which constitutes 55% of blood fluid, is mostly water (92% by volume), and contains proteins, glucose, mineral ions, hormones, carbon dioxide, and blood cells themselves."
"Albumin is the main protein in plasma, and it functions to regulate the colloidal osmotic pressure of blood."
"The blood cells are mainly red blood cells (also called RBCs or erythrocytes), white blood cells (also called WBCs or leukocytes), and in mammals platelets (also called thrombocytes)."
"The most abundant cells in vertebrate blood are red blood cells."
"These contain hemoglobin, an iron-containing protein, which facilitates oxygen transport by reversibly binding to this respiratory gas thereby increasing its solubility in blood."
"In contrast, carbon dioxide is mostly transported extracellularly as bicarbonate ion transported in plasma."
"Some animals, such as crustaceans and mollusks, use hemocyanin to carry oxygen, instead of hemoglobin."
"Insects and some mollusks use a fluid called hemolymph instead of blood, the difference being that hemolymph is not contained in a closed circulatory system."
"White blood cells help to resist infections and parasites."
"Platelets are important in the clotting of blood."
"Arterial blood carries oxygen from inhaled air to the tissues of the body, and venous blood carries carbon dioxide, a waste product of metabolism produced by cells, from the tissues to the lungs to be exhaled."
"Medical terms related to blood often begin with hemo-, hemato-, haemo- or haemato- from the Greek word αἷμα (haima) for 'blood'."
"Blood is circulated around the body through blood vessels by the pumping action of the heart."
"Arthropods, using hemolymph, have hemocytes as part of their immune system."
"Vertebrate blood is bright red when its hemoglobin is oxygenated."
"Vertebrate blood is dark red when it is deoxygenated."
"Plasma is the main medium for excretory product transportation."
"In terms of anatomy and histology, blood is considered a specialized form of connective tissue, given its origin in the bones and the presence of potential molecular fibers in the form of fibrinogen."