Health Articles : Blood Cells
Blood Cells : Red Blood Cells
Blood CellBlood is a circulating fluid. Blood cell is any type of blood found in the blood or plasma. In mammals blood also known as ..... Red Blood Cells are the most common type of blood cells found in our body. Also known as the RBC’s or enthrocytes, their main task is delivering oxygen from the lungs to body tissues in a human body. A single drop blood contains millions of red blood cells which are constantly traveling through your body delivering oxygen and removing wastes. If they weren’t in your body, you would slowly die.
Red blood cells are red because they contain a protein called hemoglobin that is bright red in color. As blood passes through the lungs, oxygen molecules attach to the hemoglobin. As the blood passes through the body's tissue, the hemoglobin releases the oxygen to the cells. Over the time the red blood cells get worn out and eventually die. Erythrocytes develop in about 7 days and live a total of about 120 days. The bones in our body are actually responsible of producing the RBC’s; however the blood is circulated throughout the body and not being remade all the time.
Blood Cell DiseasesBlood is the life-giving fluid, transporting oxygen and nutrients to the body tissues. It is a connective tissue, ..... The diameter of a typical human erythrocyte disk is 6–8 µm, much smaller than most other human cells, a typical erythrocyte contains about 270 million hemoglobin molecules, with each carrying four heme groups. Adult humans have roughly 2–3 × 1013 red blood cells at any given time (women have about 4 million to 5 million erythrocytes per cubic millimeter (micro liter) of blood and men about 5 million to 6 million; The red blood cells store collectively about 3.5 grams of iron, more than five times the iron stored by all the other tissues combined. The process by which red blood cells are produced is called erythropoiesis. Erythrocytes are continuously being produced in the red bone marrow of large bones. The aging cells swell up to a sphere-like shape and are engulfed by phagocytes, destroyed and their materials are released into the blood. The main sites of destruction are the liver and the spleen. The heme constituent of hemoglobin is eventually excreted as bilirubin.
The blood types of humans are due to variations in surface glycoprotein of erythrocytes. Since human body is continuously making more blood, it is safe for healthy adults to donate blood. The blood is then stored for emergency situations. Initially after giving the blood, the donor may feel some momentary light headedness due to the loss of the oxygen rich red blood cells and blood sugar. But the body quickly stabilizes itself.
Red Blood Cell Life CycleThe life span of a R.B.C in the blood stream is 120 days. The red blood cells lack a nucleus thus further production of any new cellular .....
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