Human blood is mainly composed of different nutrients such as sodium, potassium, chloride etc. So it is important to know the importance of each nutrients present in our body. What could be the possible things that may happen or you can encounter when it comes to blood. Because there are several diseases that possibly be present in your blood. So what things could help to prevent this thing happen, or to maintain a healthy blood? This question is helpful for you to know better about blood chemistry.
The concentration values of many chemicals in the blood would guide us and help us in determining abnormal values that can point out a spread of cancer or side effects of therapy. The most visible function of blood in our system is its ability to transport oxygen to various parts of the body. The blood has components called blood cells that is suspended in a fluid called plasma (“Blood Groups, Blood Typing and Blood Transfusions”, 2007).
These cells are the red blood cells and white blood cells wherein the RBCs have hemoglobin that are responsible in carrying oxygen ‘cause it binds to it (“Blood Groups, Blood Typing and Blood Transfusions”, 2007). These RBCs carry oxygen to different tissues of the body and at the same time remove the carbon dioxide from these tissues (“Blood Groups, Blood Typing and Blood Transfusions”, 2007). On the other hand, the WBCs are our cellular defense to infection. There are also platelets for blood coagulation if wound occurs (“Blood Groups, Blood Typing and Blood Transfusions”, 2007).
The plasma has different constituents mainly salt and variable proteins (“Blood Groups, Blood Typing and Blood Transfusions”, 2007). The blood is considered the easiest tissue to be transplanted in the form of transfusion (Ali, 2001). The brightness of the red color of the blood signifies that there are more oxygen in it and the darker the red color of the blood means that there is less oxygen transported (Ali, 2001). The brighter red blood is the arterial blood because it has just passed the lungs, thus, is newly oxygenated (Ali, 2001).
The darker red blood is the venous blood because it has gone through the capillaries wherein the oxygen in the blood is transferred to tissues already, thus it has less oxygen (Ali, 2001). Discussion Blood chemistry is the measurement of different concentrations of elements, compounds, and chemicals found in the blood (“Glossary of Prostate Cancer Related Terms”, 2007). And when it is talking of blood, it is really important that you know what really blood is and what really blood contains with the use of microscope.
Under the microscope there are two types of blood cells called the red blood cells (RBC) and the white blood cells (WBC). White blood cells look like a curved plate. The red blood cells are the cells responsible to the red color of the blood (“Blood and its Components”, 2006). It is know of its main function as the carrier of oxygen through the blood all over the body system and transport back the waste gas from these tissues called carbon dioxide to the lungs for it to be released when we exhale (“Blood and its Components”, 2006).
The RBC formation is regulated through the kidney wherein it produces a hormone called erythropoietin that signals the bone marrow to produce more RBCs when there is not enough RBCs circulating in the blood (“Blood and its Components”, 2006). In cases of blood transfusion where RBCs are only needed and not whole blood, the patient received the RBCs as “packed red blood cells” (PRBCs) wherein most of the plasma and other cells are separated from the blood (“Blood and its Components”, 2006).
Plasma is the fluid portion of the blood and usually straw-colored where some of the clotting factors are suspended with (“Blood and its Components”, 2006). The clotting factors are responsible for the blood coagulation that is very critically important when the body is under injury (“Blood and its Components”, 2006). The clots formed served as seals to the injured blood vessels to stop the hemorrhage that may lead to blood loss and eventually shock (“Blood and its Components”, 2006).
Aside from clotting factors, plasma also contains antibodies that aid the body in its defense against infection (“Blood and its Components”, 2006). It is also possible that plasma can be stored if separated from RBCs as frozen for a year until transfused (“Blood and its Components”, 2006). This is called fresh frozen plasma (FFP) after thawing when it is to be used already (“Blood and its Components”, 2006). Plasma donation is called apheresis, specifically plasmapheresis (“Blood and its Components”, 2006).
This is done through a machine that readily separates the plasma from the blood of the donor then returns the RBCs and other blood components to the donor’s bloodstream (“Blood and its Components”, 2006). Platelets are commonly described as fragments of cells in blood as they appear as fragments under a microscope (“Blood and its Components”, 2006). These are necessary in the blood clotting process along with the clotting factors in the plasma (“Blood and its Components”, 2006). These fragment cells originated from cells called megakaryocytes that are formed in the bone marrow (“Blood and its Components”, 2006).
Like other blood components, platelets can also be separated for transfusion (“Blood and its Components”, 2006). It takes several units of platelets (from different donors) to sufficiently collect enough amount needed for transfusion, that is, 6 to 10 units collected from ‘random donor’ platelets are usually combined and given to adult patients at one time (“Blood and its Components”, 2006). Platelets can also be collected by plateletpheresis wherein the procedure is the same as plasmapheresis (“Blood and its Components”, 2006).