The average human adult has more than 5 liters (6 quarts) of blood in his or her body. Blood carries oxygen and nutrients to living cells and takes away their waste products. It also delivers immune cells to fight infections and contains platelets that can form a plug in a damaged blood vessel to prevent blood loss.
Through the circulatory system, blood adapts to the body's needs. When you are exercising, your heart pumps harder and faster to provide more blood and hence oxygen to your muscles. During an infection, the blood delivers more immune cells to the site of infection, where they accumulate to ward off harmful invaders.
All of these functions make blood a precious fluid. Each year in the USA, 30 million units of blood components are transfused to patients who need them. Blood is deemed so precious that is also called "red gold" because the cells and proteins it contains can be sold for more than the cost of the same weight in gold.
Every second, 2-3 million RBCs are produced in the bone marrow and released into the circulation. Also known as erythrocytes, RBCs are the most common type of cell found in the blood, with each cubic millimeter of blood containing 4-6 million cells. With a diameter of only 6 µm, RBCs are small enough to squeeze through the smallest blood vessels. They circulate around the body for up to 120 days, at which point the old or damaged RBCs are removed from the circulation by specialized cells (macrophages) in the spleen and liver.
In humans, as in all mammals, the mature RBC lacks a nucleus. This allows the cell more room to store hemoglobin, the oxygen-binding protein, enabling the RBC to transport more oxygen. RBCs are also biconcave in shape; this shape increases their surface area for the diffusion of oxygen across their surfaces. In non-mammalian vertebrates such as birds and fish, mature RBCs do have a nucleus.
Comments
Post a Comment