The cardiovascular system contains approximately how much blood?
five and a half liters or one and a half gallons
What does blood transport to body tissues?
Oxygen, nutrients, and hormones
What does blood transport away from body tissues?
Carbon dioxide, heat, and metabolic wastes
What does blood regulate in the body?
pH, body temperature, and cell water content
Blood provides
Protection from blood loss through clotting and against disease through phagocytic white blood cells and antibodies
When centrifuged, blood in a heparinized tube separates visually into two main components:
Plasma and formed elements
Plasma
The nonliving fluid component of blood within which formed elements and various solutes are suspended and circulated.
Formed Elements
Cellular portion of blood which include red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.
Red Blood Cells are also called
Erythrocytes
White Blood Cells are also called
Leukocytes
Platelets are also called
Thrombocytes
Formed elements constitute what percentage of blood volume?
45%
Plasma composes what percentage of blood volume?
55%
Serum
Amber-colored fluid that exudes from clotted blood as the clot shrinks; plasma without clotting factors.
Hemoglobin
Oxygen-transporting protein of erythrocytes.
Blood is bright red when?
Oxygen-rich
Blood is dark red when?
Oxygen-poor
Polycythemia
An abnormally high number of erythrocytes (RBC's)
There are approximately how many red blood cells per microliter of blood?
Four and a half to five million
Anemia
Reduced oxygen-carrying ability of blood resulting from too few erythrocytes (RBC's) or abnormal hemoglobin.
There are approximately how many white blood cells per microliter of blood?
Five thousand to ten thousand
Leukocytosis
An increase in the number of leukocytes (White Blood Cells); usually the result of a microbiological attack on the body.
Two main categories of White Blood Cells (leukocytes)
Granular leukocytes and Agranular leukocytes
Granular leukocytes have
Discernible vesicles or granules in the cytoplasm that can be seen after staining.
Agranular leukocytes have granules but they
Cannot be observed with the light microscope
Granular leukocytes include
neutrophils, eosinophils, and basophils
Agranular leukocytes include
Lymphocytes and monocytes
Platelets are formed in red bone marrow from large, multinuclear cells called
Megakaryocytes
Platelets do not have
nuclei and are not considered to be cells
Platelets
Cell fragment found in blood; involved in clotting.
A deficiency in the number of circulating platelets is called
Thrombocytopenia
Most numerous white blood cell
Neutrophil; multi-lobed nucleus, neutral to pink granules
Second most numerous white blood cell that arises from bone marrow and becomes functionally mature in the lymphoid organs of the body.
Lymphocyte; smallest white blood cell, very large nucleus
Largest white blood cell
Monocyte; horseshoe shaped nucleus, light blue cytoplasm
Granular white blood cell whose granules readily take up the red stain called eosin
Eosinophil; small red granules, bi-lobed nucleus
White blood cell whose granules stain purplish-black and nucleus purple with basic dye
Basophil; large blue-purple droplets, nucleus is obscured by granules
Most commonly used blood typing systems
ABO and Rh systems
Antigen
A substance or part of a substance (living or nonliving) that is recognized as foreign by the immune system, activates the immune system, and reacts with immune cells or their products.
Blood typing is based on
Th Antigenic molecules that are on the surface of the RBC membranes
Antibodies
plasma proteins that combine with a specific antigen to inhibit or destroy it
ABO system
The classification of human blood based on the inherited properties of red blood cells (erythrocytes) as determined by the presence or absence of the antigens A and B, which are carried on the surface of the red cells. Persons may thus have type A, type B
Rh system
Rh blood group system, system for classifying blood groups according to the presence or absence of the Rh antigen, often called the Rh factor, on the cell membranes of the red blood cells (erythrocytes). The designation Rh is derived from the use of the b
Complete Blood Count (CBC)
a vital diagnostic tool that screens for abnormalities in the number or structure of formed elements. It is used along with a battery of blood chemistry tests to put together a comprehensive profile of a person's general level of health based on blood val
Complete Blood Count (CBC) tests include
total RBC count, total WBC count, platelet count, differential WBC count, hematocrit, and hemoglobin concentration.
Determines the percentage of total blood volume occupied by erythrocytes. Described as a percentage of RBC's in a whole blood sample
Hematocrit
An abnormally high hematocrit (65% or above) is indicative of
Polycythemia
A hematocrit with RBC's below the normal level indicates a type of
Anemia
Hematocrit Red Blood Cell % Formula
Length of RBC's in millimeters, divided by length of the whole column in millimeters, multiplied by 100.
Coagulation
Process in which blood is transformed from a liquid to a gel; blood clotting.
Leukopenia
Abnormally low white blood cell count
Universal Blood Donor Type
Type O
Universal Blood Recipient Type
Type AB