The Structure And Function Of The Main Components Of Blood

Blood is the only one component in one’s body that the scientists haven’t been yet to synthesis, imitate or reproduce. It is a connective tissue. Blood has a pH of 7.35-7.45, which makes it slightly basic. Due to abundance of oxygen found in the arteries the color of blood is much darker compared to the blood found in the veins. In a grown adults body about 8% of the body weight comes from blood.

Due to difference in the body shape and size and sometimes variation in weight is seen in bodies of men and women.

The male body has about 5-6 liters of blood whereas female body has 4-5 liters blood. Blood is a specialized fluid present all over the body. It has an average temperature of 38 degree Celsius.

Whole blood contains formed elements, water and other dissolved materials. It is 4 to 5 times more viscous as water which causes it to be more resistant to flow compared to water.

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There is a reason for blood to be viscous. As blood has to flow through heart, if it flows too easily then it can easily strain the heart which will lead to severe cardiovascular diseases. Therefore on of the most vital function of blood is to be viscous so that the blood doesn’t flow too easily or with too much resistance.

Components of blood:

Blood vessels transport blood to the whole body so that all the organs can function properly. Blood is mainly divided into two parts.

45% of blood is cells and formed elements.

The other 55% is plasma.

Due to having a specific structure and shape and being surrounded by plasma membranes they are called formed elements. The formed can be divided further into three parts, they are:

1. Erythrocytes or red blood cells or RBC
2. Leukocytes or white blood cells or WBC
3. Thrombocytes or platelets

Plasma is a protein and salt solution that acts as a suspension for formed elements. It is a straw colored liquid component found in blood. Plasma constitutes of 55% of the blood. It consists of water, protein and inorganic and organic materials. In plasma there are mainly three types of protein, they are:

1. Albumins: They are the main protein group found in the blood plasma.
2. Globulins: It can be further classified into α1, α2, β1, β2, and γ-globulins.
3. Fibrinogens: It is responsible for coagulation in blood plasma.

Functions of formed elements in the blood:

The hormones erythropoietin produces red blood cell, it is secreted mainly from the kidney. Red blood cell starts its journey from the bone marrow. It starts of as immature cells. I do not have any nucleus. After seven days of maturation they are released in the blood stream. Due to not having a nucleus it can easily change its shape. Being able to change its shape from concave to other shape lets it pass through any blood vessels in one’s body. As known nucleus is the life source of the nucleus as of not having it in the red blood cells causes it to have a small life period. As it travels through smallest of blood vessels it damages its cell membrane and causes it to loose energy time by time. It only survives for 120 days. Many RBCs die in the spleen as it becomes trapped there and then get broken and destroyed.

The red blood cell is named after having abundance of red blood cells in the blood which accounts to 40-45% of the blood. It has a shape of a biconcave disk which has a flattened centre. Both ends of the discs have the shallow ball like indentations. A matured erythrocyte has glycoprotein and glycolipids which helps to determine a person blood type. In its inner surface there are two protein structure called spectrin and actin. This gives the membrane resilience and durability. Due to having this the RBCs can easily stretch or bend and even fold to get to through different small blood vessels. Due to having a biconcave shape the cell has a greater ratio of surface area to volume, it enables oxygen and carbon dioxide to diffuse quickly from hemoglobin. After going through smaller vessels they can easily come back to their original shape for passing through the larger vessels.

The red blood cells contain a special type of protein called hemoglobin. This helps RBCs to carry oxygen from the lungs to the body then return to the rest of the body. After that the carbon dioxide is returned from the body to the lungs so it can be removed through exhalation. Hemoglobin is also hugely responsible for the color of the blood being red. The common measure if blood is called hematocrit, percentage of bloods volume can be measured through this. The cytoplasm of the red blood cell mainly consists of a 33% solution of hemoglobin.

During their maturation period the RBCs lose all of their inner cellular components. So they prevent consuming oxygen. As a result, they cannot take part in aerobic respiration. The inner cellular components like mitochondria get lost which causes the red blood cells to get enough energy for its cell it can’t repair itself. As it doesn’t have any genetic information it can’t repair itself.

Compared to red blood cells the amount of white blood cells re much less. They only consist of 1% of the blood in one’s body. White blood cells protect the body from infection. White blood cells are mainly found in the circulation and also occur outside the circulation also found in tissues where they fight against different infections. They can be also found in the bloodstream when they are transmitting from one side to another. The survival of leukocytes depends on the continuous production of energy. The pathways used for chemical transmission is much more complex than the pathway used for the red blood cell but is more similar to the ones found in tissue cells.

The white blood cells contain a nucleus can synthesize protein as they have a nucleus and are able to produce ribonucleic acid (RNA). WBCs do not go under mitosis (cell division) in the blood stream but some do go through mitosis. The most abundant type of white blood cell present in white blood cells is the neutrophil also called “immediate response” cell. It accounts to about 55 to 70 % of the total white blood. They have a very short live, it is less than a day. Having such a short life causes the bone marrow to constantly produce new neutrophils. They help to maintain protection against infection. If transfusion of this is done it might not be successful as unlike RBC it doesn’t survive such a long time. Therefore, they are mostly not effective.