Composition of Blood 4

Composition of Blood

 

 

 

 

Fact: There are around 5 litres of blood in the average human adult body, though this can vary depending on various factors. During pregnancy for example, a woman may have 30 to 50% more blood than women who are not pregnant. Blood accounts for approximately 7/8% of the total weight of the human body.

We all are well acquainted with the sight of blood: it’s a crimson fluid that flows from your body after a cut or a significant injury. Blood’s composition is incredibly complicated, furthermore, as we further progress with this article, you will realize the reason blood is essential to our survival. Blood is actually the delivery medium for dissolved gases, nutrients, hormones, and more. 

Blood plasma is a yellow fluid component of blood that suspends the entire blood cells. The liquid element of blood transports cells and proteins throughout the body. Blood plasma accounts for approximately half of the body’s total blood volume and the intravascular quantity of extracellular fluid, primarily water.

The body’s circulatory system comprises blood, the heart, and blood vessels (such as veins and arteries). The circulatory system contributes to the body’s overall equilibrium (i.e. homeostasis). The blood picks up oxygen as it travels through the lungs and it flows via relatively narrow blood vessels (from arteries to arterioles and capillaries) so that the oxygen-rich blood is able to provide oxygen to the cells.

Oxygen needs have influenced both the blood composition and the design of the circulatory system. Transported oxygen is dissolved in the plasma protein in particular elemental creatures, such as tiny worms and molluscs. Pigments capable of carrying relatively significant quantities of oxygen are found in animals with higher oxygen demands. 

At the same time, all vertebrates and certain invertebrates possess the red pigment haemoglobin, including iron. Haemoglobin is found only in the red cells of practically all vertebrates, including humans (erythrocytes). 

Lower vertebrates’ red cells (such as birds’) have a nucleus, while mammalian red cells do not. The size of red cells varies greatly amongst species; goat red cells being significantly smaller than human red cells for example. All blood types are a mixture of erythrocytes, leukocytes, and platelets suspended in blood plasma. 

Composition of Blood 

From an evolutionary point of view, blood was thought to have evolved from a type of cell responsible for phagocytosis and feeding. Blood and the circulatory system have aided the evolution of increasingly sophisticated lifeforms over billions of years. Centrifugal force can separate blood components from the blood plasma of blood constituents (erythrocytes, leukocytes, and platelets). 

The Critical components of blood

• Erythrocytes/ Plasma: Plasma combines water, sugar, fat, protein, and salt that make up blood’s liquid component. Plasma’s primary function is to carry blood cells and nutrients, waste products, antibodies, clotting proteins, chemical messengers such as hormones, and blood proteins also known as plasma proteins assist in regulating the body’s fluid balance.

• Hematocrit/ Red blood cells: The hematocrit is the volume of erythrocytes in a blood sample. Hematocrit values vary by gender; men’s values range from 44 to 45 per cent of blood volume, while women’s values range from 39 to 44 per cent of blood volume. Blood appears red because of the considerable quantity of red blood cells, which acquire their colour from haemoglobin. 

The absence of a nucleus makes a red blood cell more pliable but also shortens the cell’s life. Red blood cells include a protein called haemoglobin, which helps deliver oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body and later returns carbon dioxide from the body to the lungs. The hematocrit is a standard measure of red blood cell levels defined as the proportion of entire blood volume composed of red blood cells.

• Leukocytes/White blood cells (WBCs): White blood cells, often known as leukocytes, account for less than 1% of total blood volume and play an important role in illness and fighting infection. The number of white blood cells in one ml of blood is typically between 3,700 and 10,500. 

White blood cell counts higher or lower than average might suggest illness. The white non-transparent layer of leukocytes and thrombocytes is above the erythrocyte layer. A buffy coat is a name for this layer (forms about 1 per cent of blood volume).

• Platelets/ thrombocytes: Platelets, also known as thrombocytes, work with clotting proteins to prevent or minimize bleeding. Platelets should range between 150,000 and 400,000 per microliter of blood. Red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets are produced in the bone marrow and then enter circulation. 

Plasma cells are mainly water, which the intestines absorb from ingested food and drink. The heart circulates them as blood throughout the body via the blood arteries.

 

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