Red blood cells (RBCs) are cells in the blood that carry oxygen to every part of the body. Bone marrow makes RBCs, and RBCs make hemoglobin. RBCs have instructions (genes) that tell them how to make hemoglobin. RBCs stay in the bone marrow until they’re fully grown. When they’re big enough and have all their hemoglobin, RBCs head out into the bloodstream to deliver oxygen to the body. When the RBCs are worn out they get pulled out of the bloodstream by the spleen. This happens when RBCs are about 120 days old. The spleen recycles all the worn out RBCs. The hemoglobin made by the RBCs is recycled. The body keeps the good parts and gets rid of the junk. Hemoglobin gets broken down into pieces that go back to the blood.
Blood Basics
Our blood is a living tissue with a variety of critical functions: It delivers oxygen and nutrients to our organs, fights infections and creates blood clots, preventing us from bleeding excessively when a blood vessel is damaged. The liquid part of our blood, called plasma, is key for maintaining blood pressure and supplying critical proteins for blood clotting, immunity and maintaining the correct pH balance in our body -- critical to cell function. Plasma also carries the solid part of our blood -- white blood cells, which work to destroy viruses and bacteria; red blood cells, which carry oxygen through the body; and platelets, which help clotting. Learn more about blood basics with expert advice from Sharecare.
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St Francis Medical Center answeredSee All 2 AnswersPlatelet-rich plasma (PRP) treatment is based on the theory that the bloodstream has healing chemicals in the platelet-rich section of the blood. So, if you think about it, if you cut your skin, you bleed, and that blood has chemicals which tell the skin to mend. If you break a bone, the bone bleeds, and the blood has chemicals which tells the bone to mend.
In PRP, healthcare professionals take the blood from your arm (just like in a traditional blood test), but instead of spinning it 30 times a minute, they spin it much faster to concentrate those platelets in a concentration 500 times greater. They then inject that platelet-rich plasma into damaged tissue, which can help it to heal when your own body couldn’t do it.
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1 AnswerA
Jumo Health answeredFollowing are the different types of blood cells and what they do:
- Red blood cells carry oxygen all around the body.
- White blood cells are a part of the immune system, which is the body’s defensive army against invaders like germs.
- Platelets help blood to clot if a person is bleeding.
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Jumo Health answered
Blood picks up oxygen in the lungs, which comes from the air people breathe. The blood containing oxygen is pumped from the lungs to the left side of the heart. The heart then pumps this oxygen-rich blood all over the body. The body's cells remove the oxygen from the blood cells and use it as energy. The blood cells then return to the right side of the heart, which pumps the blood to the lungs through the pulmonary arteries. In the lungs, the blood picks up more oxygen, and the whole cycle begins again.
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Jumo Health answered
Blood has many purposes. Blood is made up of cells and liquids that carry important nutrients and messages all around the body. Blood can also carry medicines, like chemotherapy or antibiotics. Doctors can do blood tests to see what's inside the blood, which tells them how people are doing.
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Discovery Health answeredThe blood has several types of white blood cells including neutrophils, bands, eosinophils, basophils, monocytes and lymphocytes. Each fights infection in a different way.
Neutrophils, for example, are one of the body's main defenses against bacteria. Neutrophils kill bacteria by ingesting them. Neutrophils can ingest five to 20 bacteria in their lifetime.
Another type of white blood cell is called bands. Bands are immature neutrophils. When a bacterial infection is present, an increase of both neutrophils and bands are seen.
The eosinophil type of white blood cell kills parasites and has a role in allergic reactions.
Although basophils are not well understood, they also function in allergic reactions. Basophils release histamine (which makes blood vessels leak and attracts white blood cells) and heparin (which prevents clotting in an infected area so that the white blood cells can reach the bacteria).
Monocytes enter the tissue itself, where they become larger. There they can ingest bacteria throughout the body. These cells also destroy damaged and dead cells.
Neutrophils and monocytes use many mechanisms to get to and kill invading organisms. Both can squeeze through openings in blood vessels. They are attracted to chemicals produced by the immune system or by bacteria. Then, they migrate toward areas where the concentration of these chemicals is high. They kill bacteria by completely surrounding the bacteria and digesting them with enzymes.
Lymphocytes are complex cells used to direct the body's immune system. White blood cells called lymphocytes come in two types, T lymphocytes (called T cells) and B Lymphocytes. About 75 percent of lymphocytes are T cells.
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Jumo Health answered
Blood cells work hard to keep you healthy, so they need to be replaced when they wear out. To replace worn-out blood cells, a stem cell divides to make a new cell. New blood cells stay in the bone marrow until they’re ready to head out into the bloodstream.
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Jumo Health answered
Red blood cells (RBCs) get recycled in the spleen. When RBCs are worn out, they head to the spleen. Once in the spleen, the RBCs and their hemoglobin are broken down and recycled. The body keeps the good parts and gets rid of the junk.
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Discovery Health answeredSee All 2 Answers
The main function of red blood cells is the transport of oxygen from the lungs to the body's cells. Red blood cells contain a protein called hemoglobin that actually carries that oxygen.
In capillaries, oxygen is released to be used by the body's cells. Ninety-seven percent of the oxygen carried by the blood from the lungs is carried through hemoglobin. The other 3 percent is dissolved in the plasma. Hemoglobin allows blood to move 30 to 100 times more oxygen than could possibly be dissolved in the plasma alone.
In the lungs, where the oxygen level is high, hemoglobin combines loosely with oxygen. The hemoglobin then easily releases that oxygen into the capillaries, where the oxygen level is low. In each molecule of hemoglobin there are four iron atoms. Each iron atom binds with one molecule of oxygen. The iron in hemoglobin is what gives blood its red color.
Thirty-three percent of a red blood cell is hemoglobin. The normal concentration of hemoglobin is 15.5 grams per deciliter of blood in men. In women, the normal concentration is 14 grams per deciliter of blood.
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4 AnswersA
SecondsCount.org answeredSee All 4 AnswersBlood is made up of four parts:
- red blood cells, to carry oxygen, are rich in iron, which gives blood its red color
- white blood cells, to fight infection
- platelets, which when activated become sticky to help form blood clots to heal cuts, scrapes and wounds
- plasma, the “serum” part of blood to transport nutrients, proteins, and hormones throughout the body
Your healthy body is constantly replenishing each of these blood components. Some are able to be replenished within a few hours, some within a few weeks.