"Blood delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells."
Understanding the different components of blood, including red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets, and their respective functions.
Red blood cells: A type of blood cell that carries oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body.
White blood cells: A type of blood cell that helps fight infections and diseases.
Platelets: Small fragments of cells that help with blood clotting.
Hemoglobin: A protein found in red blood cells that carries oxygen.
Plasma: The liquid part of blood that carries nutrients, hormones, and waste products throughout the body.
Bone marrow: The soft, spongy tissue inside bones where blood cells are produced.
Blood typing: The process of determining a person's blood type.
Anemia: A condition where there is a shortage of red blood cells or hemoglobin in the blood.
Blood transfusions: The process of transferring blood from one person to another to replace lost blood or to treat certain medical conditions.
Hemophilia: A rare genetic disorder where the blood does not clot normally.
Leukemia: A type of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow, causing an abnormal production of blood cells.
Lymphoma: A type of cancer that affects the lymphatic system, including the lymph nodes, spleen, and bone marrow.
Bleeding disorders: A group of conditions where blood does not clot normally, leading to excessive bleeding or bruising.
Thrombosis: The formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel, which can cause serious health problems if not treated.
Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: The process of replacing damaged or diseased bone marrow with healthy stem cells from a donor.
Red Blood Cells (RBCs): Responsible for carrying oxygen throughout the body.
White Blood Cells (WBCs): Involved in the immune system and helping fight off infections.
Platelets: Small cells involved in blood clotting to stop bleeding.
Plasma: A yellowish liquid that makes up about 55% of blood volume and is mostly composed of water, proteins, and electrolytes.
Hemoglobin: A protein found in RBCs that binds to oxygen to transport it to tissues throughout the body.
Hematocrit: The percentage of RBCs in the total volume of blood.
Mean corpuscular volume (MCV): The average size of RBCs.
Mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH): The amount of hemoglobin in each RBC.
Mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC): The concentration of hemoglobin in each RBC.
Reticulocytes: Immature RBCs that are released into the bloodstream before fully maturing.
"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."