Health Articles : Blood Cells
Blood Cells : Red Blood Cell Disorder
Functions Of Red Blood CellsBlood is the life-maintaining fluid that circulates in the body. Blood cells are suspensions of special cells in a liquid called plasma. An adult man has around 5-6 ..... Red blood cells carry oxygen and supply it to all the tissues throughout the entire body. RBCs are also called erythrocytes. RBCs supply oxygen from the lungs to all the other parts of the body. Thus, it can be gauged that if RBCs suffer from any malfunctioning, its consequences could be so grave and life-threatening.
Types of RBC Disorders:
RBCs consist of hemoglobin which is responsible for carrying oxygen and imparting the red color to the blood. The heart pumps out RBCs and are supplied to the different parts of the body. When the RBC reach to the various tissues, they give-up their oxygen and become dark blue in the process. When such RBCs and hemoglobin level becomes very low, it leads to the individual to suffer from anaemia. Anaemia results in the reduction of oxygen carrying capacity of the blood.
Cord Blood And Stem Cell PreservationUmbilical Cord blood is the blood taken from the umbilical cord and placenta at the time of birth. This blood is rich in a variety of haematopoietic stem ..... Anaemia results due to severe blood loss, destruction of RBCs and because of reduction in the production level of RBCs. The reasons for sudden loss of great amount of blood are accidents, surgeries and ruptured blood vessels. Chronic blood loss may also result due to bleeding cancer, bleeding hemorrhoids, bleeding gastric or duodenal ulcers and nose bleeds.
Other RBC disorders include thalassaemia, sickle cell disease, hereditary spherocytosis, hereditary elliptocytosis and lack of enzymes in the RBCs. Thalassaemia is a form of anaemia with two main sub-types namely alpha and beta thalassaemia. The most extreme form of thalassaemia results in the death of the individual. This form of anaemia mainly affects new-born babies. When babies suffer from thalassaemia, they look healthy at the time of birth but within the first two years of birth, they become pale, listless, and have an extremely poor appetite. If this is not treated immediately, the vital organs of the child like the heart, liver, spleen etc. all get affected adversely. Their bones become very weak and brittle. With severe form of thalassaemia, there is a risk of heart failure and other fatal infections.
The other form of RBC disease is the sickle cell disease, which is hereditary. In this disease, the blood cells contain hemoglobin * S which is a very unusual kind of hemoglobin. In this disease, the blood cells are of sickle shape and they obstruct the path of small blood vessels and do not allow optimum amounts of blood to reach the different parts of the body.
Blood Cell MaturationThe cell is a basic microscopic unit of our body. Visible only by a microscope, various parts of the cell can be seen and analyzed. A cell consists .....
These are some of the major diseases which are associated with RBC disorders. If not treated immediately, these diseases can become fatal in no time.
Too Many Red Blood CellsRed blood cells are those which carry oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. They also carry carbon dioxide back to the lungs. So .....
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