Student spotlight: bloody good

This article was researched and written by David Oki. Well done David! 

Blood is made up of watery plasma in which three types of cell are suspended: red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets.      

This video shows how centrifugation (spinning a test tube of blood at high speeds) is used to separate blood into its components.  

                                                         

Plasma                       

Plasma is 90% water and contains dissolved substances such as glucose, amino acids, fatty acid, mineral, vitamins, carbon dioxide, urea, hormones, antibodies and large soluble protein.  

Red blood cell           

Biconcave discs, with no nucleus or mitochondria. They live for 120 days and are then broken down by the liver. They are made continuously in the red bone marrow of the sternum, ribs and vertebrae. They contain the red, iron-containing chemical haemoglobin which can combine with oxygen to form oxyhaemoglobin.      

White blood cells                              

Larger and less numerous than red blood cells, they have a nucleus. They protect the body against disease. There are two types: monocytes and lymphocytes. Monocytes have a lobed nucleus and tiny granules in the cytoplasm. They engulf bacteria by phagocytosis.                                          

Platelets                                    

These are fragments of cells formed in the red bone marrow. They have an important role in clotting of the blood.