Anatomy and Physiology

Blood Blood is heavier, thicker and more viscous than water. It flows more slowly than water, at least in part because of its viscosity. The adhesive quality of blood, or its stickiness, may be appreciated by touching it. The temperature of the blood is about 38C, which is slightly higher than normal body temperature, and has a slightly alkaline pH or about 7.40. blood constitutes about 8% of the total body weight. The blood volume is 5-6 liters in an average-sized adult female. Several hormonal negative feedback systems ensure that blood volume and osmotic pressure remain relatively constant. Especially important are those involving aldosterone, antidiuretic hormone, and atrial natriuretic peptide, which regulate how much water is excreted in the urine. Blood is a liquid connective tissue that has three general functions: transporation, regulation and protection. Transportation. Blood transports oxygen from the lungs to the cells of the body and carbon dioxide from the cells to the lungs. It also carries nutrients from the gastrointestinal tract to body cells, heat and waste products away from cells and hormones from endocrine glands to other body cells. Regulation. Blood helps regulate pH through buffers/ it also adjusts body temperature through the head-absorbing and coolant properties of its water content and its variable rate of flow through the skin, where excess heat can be lost from blood to the environment. Blood osmotic pressure also influences the water content of cells, principally through dissolved irons and proteins. Protection. The clotting mechanism protects against blood loss, and certain phagocytic white blood cells and plasma proteins.

The whole blood is composed of two portions: (1) blood plasma, a watery liquid that contains dissolved substances, and (2) formed elements, which are cells and cell fragments. On average, more than 99% of the formed elements are red colored erythrocytes, also called red blood cells. The percentage of the total blood volume occupied bu RBCs normally is about 45% and plasma accounts for the remaining 55%.

Pale, white-colored leukocytes, or white blood cells, and platelets represent less than 1% of the total blood volume. They form a very thin layer, called the buffy coat, between the packed RBCs and plasma.

Blood Plasma When the formed elements are removed from blood, a straw-colored liquid called plasma is left. Plasma is about 91 % water and 8% solutes, most of which by weight (7%) are proteins. These proteins play a role in maintaining proper blood osmotic pressure, which is an important factor in exchange of fluid across capillary walls. Most plasma proteins are synthesized by hepatocytes, including the albumins, most globulins and fibrinogen. Plasma and other lymphatic tissues, produce gamma globulins, one of the more important types of globulins. These plasma proteins are also called antibodies or immunoglobulins because they are produced during certain immune responses. Foreign invaders such as bacteria and viruses stimulate production of millions of different antibodies. An antibody binds to the foreign substance, called antigen, that provoked its production. Besides proteins, other solutes in plasma include electrolytes; nutrients; regulatory substances such as enzymes acid, creatinine, ammonia and bilirubin.

Red Blood Cells More than 99% of the formed elements in blood are red blood cells. They contain the oxygen-carrying protein hemoglobin, which is a pigment that gives whole blood its red color. A healthy adult male has about 5.4 million red blood cells per cubic millimeter of blood. To maintain normal quantities of RBC, new mature cells must enter the circulation at the astonishing rate of at least 2 million per second. This pace balances the equally high rate of RBC destruction. Under the microscope, RBCs appear as biconcave discs. Mature RBCs have a simple structure. They lack a nucleus and other organelles and can neither reproduce nor carry on extensive metabolic activities. The plasma membrane encloses hemoglobin, which was synthesized before loss of the nucleus and which constitutes about 33%of the cell weight, dissolved in the cytosol.

RBC Physiology As blood passes through the lungs, hemoglobin inside RBCs combines with oxygen to form oxyhemoglobin. A hemoglobin molecule consists of a protein called globin, composed of four polypeptide chains, plus four nonprotein pigments called hemes. Each heme is associated with one polypeptide chain and contains an iron ion that combine reversibly with one oxygen molecule. The oxygen is transported in this state to other tissues of the body. In the tissues, the iron-oxygen reaction reverses. Hemoglobin releases oxygen, which diffuses into the interstitial fluid and from there into cells. Hemoglobin also transports about 23% of the total carbon dioxide, a waste product of metabolism. Blood flowing through tissue capillaries picks up carbon dioxide, some of which combines with amino acids in the globin portion of hemoglobin to form carbaminohemoglobin. This complex is transported to the lungs, where the carbon dioxide is released and then exhaled.

White Blood Cells Unlike RBC, WBCs have a nucleus and do not contain hemoglobin. Two major groups of WBC are granular leukocytes and agranular leukocytes. Granular leukocytes develop from myeloblasts. They have conspicuous granules in the cytoplasm that can be seen under a light microscope. The three types are eosinophils, basophils and neutrophils. Agranular leukocytes do not have cytoplasmic granules that can be seen under a light microscope, owing to their small size and poor staining qualities. The two kinds of agranular leukocytes are lymphocytes and monocytes.

Platelets Besides the immature cell types that develop into erythrocytes and leukocytes, hemopoietic stem cells also differentiate into megakaryoblasts. Under the influence of a hormone known as thrombopoietin, megakaryoblasts transform into

metamegakaryocytes, huge cells that splinter piece of the cell membrane, is a platelet. Platelets break off from the metamegakaryocytes in red bone marrow and then enter the blood circulation. They are disc-shaped and exhibit many granules but no nucleus. Platelets help stop blood loss from damaged blood vessels by forming a platelet plug.

Their granules also contain chemicals that upon release promote blood clotting. Platelets have a short life span, normally just 5-9 days.

Blood Flow through the Pulmonary and Systemic Circulations The right atrium receives deoxygenated blood from various parts of the body. From the right atrium, blood flows into the right ventricle, which pumps into the pulmonary trunk. The pulmonary trunk divides into a right and left pulmonary artery, each of which carries blood to one lung. As blood flows through pulmonary capillaries, it loses CO2 and takes on O2. This blood, called oxygenated blood, returns to the heart via the pulmonary veins that empty into the left atrium. The blood then passes into the left ventricle which pumps the blood into the ascending aorta. Branches of the arch of the aorta and descending aorta deliver blood to systemic arteries, which lead into systemic capillaries. In the systemic capillaries, blood loses O2 and gains CO2. This blood, called deoxygenated blood, returns to the right side of the heart through the superior vena cava and inferior vena cava.

RBC Life Cycle Red blood cells live only about 120 days because of the wear and tear inflicted on their plasma membranes as they squeeze through blood capillaries. Without a nucleus and other organelles, RBCs cannot synthesize new components to replace damaged ones. The plasma membranes thus become more fragile with age and the cells more likely to burst, especially as they squeeze through narrow channels in the spleen. Worn-out RBCs are removed from circulation and destroyed by fixed phagocytic macrophages in the spleen and live and the breakdown products are recycled as follows: Macrophages in the spleen, liver, or red bone marrow phagocytize worn-out RBCs The globin and heme portion of hemoglobin are split apart Globin is broken down into amino acids, which can be Reused to synthesize other proteins Iron removed from the heme portion

Associates with a plasma protein called transferring, which transports iron in the blood-stream In muscle fibers, liver cells and macrophages of the spleen and liver, iron detaches from transferring and attachs to iron-storage proteins called ferritin and heosiderin.

Upon release from a storage site or absorption from the gastrointestinal tract, iron attaches t o transferring It is then transported to bone marrow, where RBC precursors take it up through receptor-mediated endocytosis For use in production of new hemoglobin molecules Erythropoiesis in red bone marrow results in the production of red blood cells, which enter the circulation At the same time, the non-iron portion of heme is converted to biliverdin, a green pigment and then into Bilirubin, an orange pigment Bilirubin enters the blood and is transported to the liver Within the liver, bilirubin is secreted by liver cells into bile, which passes into the small intestine In the large intestine bacteria convert bilirubin into urobilinogen Some urobilinogen is absorbed back into the blood, converted to urobili, a yellow pigment, and excreted in urine Mose urobilinogen is eliminated in feces in form of a brown pigment called stercobilin, which gives feces their characteristic color.