BLOOD

What is blood

Blood is a specialized bodily fluid that consists of a liquid called plasma and a number of cellular and cell fragment components.

Functions of Blood
Blood performs many important functions within the body including:

Supply of oxygen to tissues (bound to hemoglobin which is carried in red cells)  Supply of nutrients such as glucose, amino acids and fatty acids (dissolved in the blood or bound to plasma proteins)  Removal of waste such as carbon dioxide, urea and lactic acid  Immunological functions, including circulation of white cells, and detection of foreign material by antibodies

Function of Blood (cont.)

 Coagulation, which is one part of the body's selfself-repair mechanism  Messenger functions, including the transport of hormones and the signaling of tissue damage  Regulation of body pH (the normal pH of blood is in the range of 7.35 - 7.45)  Regulation of core body temperature.

Function of Blood (cont.)

Plasma
 About 60% of whole blood is blood plasma, a fluid that is the blood's liquid medium, which by itself is straw-yellow in color. straw It has 90% water and 10% dissolved materials including proteins, glucose, ions, hormones, and gases.  Plasma contains nutrients, wastes, salts, proteins, etc. Proteins in the blood aid in transport of large molecules such as cholesterol.

Blood cells
There are mainly 3 types of blood cells  Red blood cells or erythrocytes  White blood cells or leukocytes  Platelet or thrombocytes  All blood cells are produced from pluripotent stem cells called himatopoetic stem cells

ELEMENTS OF BLOOD

Red blood cells White blood cells Platelets Plasma

Red blood cell

 Red blood cells carry oxygen to body tissues and remove carbon dioxide. They are red because they contain a protein called hemoglobin that is red in color because of iron (which bound with hemoglobin).  Red blood cells are round and thinner in the middle, like

a balloon that is partly filled with water.

 The process by which red blood cells are produced is called erythropoiesis.

Red blood cell (cont)

Erythrocytes are continuously being produced in the bone marrow of large bones, at a rate of about 2 million per second. (In the embryo, the liver is the main site of red blood cell production). In an adult, the total count of RBC is 4.5 to 5.5 million per mm3 of blood.

White blood cell

 White blood cells are cells of the immune system defending the body against both infectious disease and foreign materials.  WBCs are found throughout the body, including the blood and lymphatic system.  White cells called phagocytes can eat up the germs that cause diseases.

Platelets
 Platelets result from cell fragmentation and are involved with clotting by carrying chemicals essential to blood clotting.  There are 150,000 to 300,000 platelets in each milliliter of blood.  Without blood platelets, you would bleed to death.  Platelets survive for 10 days before being removed by the liver and spleen.

Platelets (contd.)
 If a blood vessel is cut, platelets stick to the edges of the cut and to one another, forming a plug that stops bleeding.  They then release chemicals that react with fibrinogen and other clotting proteins, leading to the formation of a blood clot.  The blood vessel can then heal over the cut area.

Types Of Blood
 Human blood is grouped into four types: A, B, AB, and O.  Each letter refers to a kind of antigen, or protein, on the surface of red blood cells.  Each blood type is also grouped by its Rhesus factor, or Rh factor. Blood is either Rh positive (Rh+) or Rh negative (Rh-). (Rh Rhesus refers to another type of antigen, or protein, on the surface of red blood cells.  Type O- blood is considered the universal donor Obecause it can be donated to people of any blood type.  Type AB+ blood is considered the universal recipient because people with this type can receive any blood type.

Who Can receive What Type of Blood

Blood Type O+ OA+ AB+ BAB+ ABABWho Can Receive This Type O+, A+, B+, AB+ All blood types A+, AB+ A+, A-, AB+, ABAABB+, AB+ B+, B-, AB+, ABBABAB+ ABAB-, AB+

The Circulation System

 The circulatory system is an organ system that passes nutrients, gases, hormones, blood cells, nitrogen waste products, etc. to and from cells in the body to help fight diseases and help stabilize body temperature and pH to maintain homeostasis.  The blood moves around the body inside the circulatory system. The main componennts of blood circulation system is the: The Heart The Vessels The Blood

The heart

The heart is a muscular structure that contracts in a rhythmic pattern to pump blood. The human heart is a twosided, 4 chambered structure with muscular walls. The heart beats or contracts 70 times per minute. The human heart will undergo over 3 billion contraction cycles during a normal lifetime

Function of the heart

 The heart acts as a pump to propel blood to all tissues of the bodies. It has four chambers, two upper chambers (atriums) and two lower chambers (ventricles).  The function of the right side of the heart is to collect dede-oxygenated blood, in the right atrium, from the body and pump it, via the right ventricle, into the so that carbon dioxide can be dropped off and oxygen picked up (gas exchange).  The left side collects oxygenated blood from the lungs into the left atrium. From the left atrium the blood moves to the left ventricle which pumps it out to the body.  On both sides, the lower ventricles are thicker and stronger than the upper atria.

The Blood Circulation System

 The heart pumps oxygenated blood to the body and deoxygenated blood to the lungs.  In the human heart there is one atrium and one ventricle for each circulation, and with both a systemic and a pulmonary circulation there are four chambers in total: left atrium, left ventricle, right atrium and right ventricle.  The right atrium holds blood that needs oxygen. It sends blood to the right ventricle which sends it to the lungs for oxygen.  After it comes back, it is sent to the left atrium. The blood is pumped from the left atrium and sent to the ventricle where it is sent to the aorta which takes it to the rest of the body.

Blood circulation inside the heart

Type of Blood Vesseles

There are two major types of blood vessels: Arteries carry oxygenated blood away from the heart and deliver it to the entire body. VeinsVeins-bring deoxygenated blood from the entire body to the heart.

Arteries

Aorta is the main artery which carries oxygenated blood away from the heart to be distributed throughout the body. The main artery is subdivided to arterioles and capillaries to supply blood to different organs efficiently.

Veins
The main vein is called vena cava which bring deoxygenated blood to the heart. Deoxygenated blood from different parts of the body travel through fine blood vessels called venules, then veins (larger in comparison with venules)and then finally joining together to form vena cava.

Defference between Artery and Vein

Artery
 Thick and elastic muscular wall.  Carry blood away from the heart  Carry red oxygenated blood (except pulmonary artery).  Blood under high pressure.  Blood moves in pulses.  Blood flows rapidly.  Capable of constriction.  Contain no valve

Vein
 Thin and slightly muscular wall.  Carry blood to the heart  Carry bluish-red bluishdeoxygenated blood (except pulmonary vein)  Blood under low pressure.  No pulses.  Blood flows smoothly  Not capable of constriction.  Contain valve

An Exception In Blood Vessels:

 Although we have just learnt that arteries carry oxygenated blood and veins deal with deoxygenated blood, there lies an exception among the blood vessels. These exceptional blood vessels are known as pulmonary artery and pulmonary vein.  Pulmonary artery carries deoxygenated blood from the heart and supply it to the lungs to become oxygenated.  Pulmonary vein carry oxygenated blood from the lungs and deliver it to the heart to be pumped into the rest of the body