Diploma I year 2024-25
PRESENTED BY :
Ms. SIDDHI A. AWATE
COMPOSITION AND FUNCTIONS OF BLOOD
BLOOD:
Blood is a fluid connective tissue that transports oxygen from lungs and nutrients
to the cells and carries away carbon dioxide and other waste products from
different organs in the body.Blood is about 45% formed elements and 55% blood
plasma.
COMPOSITION OF BLOOD:
Blood has two components:
1. Blood plasma, a watery liquid extracellular matrix that contains
dissolved substances, and
2. formed elements, which are cells and cell fragments
1. Blood Plasma
• When the formed elements are removed from blood, a strawcolored liquid
called blood plasma (or simply plasma) is left.
• Blood plasma is about 91.5%water and 8.5% solutes, most of which (7% by
weight) are proteins.
• Some of the proteins in blood plasma are also found elsewhere in the body,
but those confined to blood are called plasma proteins.
• Hepatocytes (liver cells) synthesize most of the plasma proteins, which include the albumins (54% of plasma
proteins), globulins (38%), and fibrinogen (7%)
2. Formed Elements
The formed elements of the blood include three principal components:
• red blood cells (RBCs),
• white blood cells (WBCs), and
• platelets
RBCs and WBCs are whole cells; platelets are cell fragments. RBCs and platelets have just a few roles, but
WBCs have a number of specialized functions.
I. Red blood cells
II. White blood cells
A. Granular leukocytes (contain conspicuous granules that are visible under a light microscope after staining)
1. Neutrophils
2. Eosinohils
3. Basophils
B. Agranular leukocytes (no granules are visible under a light microscope after staining)
1. T and B lymphocytes and natural killer (NK) cells
2. Monocytes
III. Platelets
The percentage of total blood volume occupied by RBCs is called the hematocrit (he-MAT-o¯-krit); a
hematocrit of 40 indicates that 40% of the volume of blood is composed of RBCs.
PHYSICAL CHARACHTERISTICS :
1. Blood is denser and more viscous (thicker) than water and feels slightly sticky.
2. The temperature of blood is 38C (100.4F)
3. The color of blood varies with its oxygen content. When it has a high oxygen content, it is bright red. When it has
a low oxygen content, it is dark red.
4. Blood constitutes about 20% of extracellular fluid, amounting to 8% of the total body mass.
5. Several hormones, ensure that blood volume and osmotic pressure remain relatively constant , hormones like
aldosterone, antidiuretic hormone, and atrial natriuretic peptide, which regulate how much water is excreted in
the urine.
FUNCTIONS OF BLOOD
Blood, which is a liquid connective tissue, has three general functions:
1. Transportation
• Oxygen and carbon dioxide
• nutrients from the gastrointestinal tract to body cells and hormones from endocrine
glands to other body cells.
• transports heat and waste products to various organs for elimination
2. Regulation
Circulating blood helps maintain homeostasis of all body fluids. Blood helps regulate pH through the use of buffers. It
also helps adjust body temperature through the heat absorbing and coolant properties of the water in blood plasma
3. Protection
• white blood cells protect against disease by carrying on phagocytosis.
• Several types of blood proteins, including antibodies, interferons, and complement, help protect against disease in
a variety of ways.
PROCESS OF HEMOPOIESIS
• The process by which the formed elements of blood develop is called hemopoiesis or hematopoiesis.
• Before birth, hemopoiesis first occurs in the yolk sac of an embryo and later in the liver, spleen, thymus, and
lymph nodes of a fetus.
• Red bone marrow becomes the primary site of hemopoiesis in the last three months before birth, and continues
as the source of blood cells after birth and throughout life.
PROCESS OF HEMOPOIESIS
Myeloid stem cells begin their
development in red bone marrow and
give rise to red blood cells, platelets,
monocytes, neutrophils, eosinophils,
and basophils. Lymphoid stem cells
begin their development in red bone
marrow but complete it in lymphatic
tissues; they give rise to lymphocytes
HEMOSTASIS
Hemostasis (he¯-mo¯-STA¯ -sis), not to be confused with the very similar term homeostasis, is a sequence of
responses that stops bleeding.
When blood vessels are damaged or ruptured, the hemostatic response must be quick, localized to the
region of damage, and carefully controlled in order to be effective.
Three mechanisms reduce blood loss:
(1) vascular spasm,
(2) platelet plug formation, and
(3) blood clotting (coagulation).
Homeostasis is the process by which the
body maintains a state of balance and stability
in response to internal and external changes.
e.g. TEMPERATURE, pH, Blood pressure
BLOOD CLOTTING
• The process of gel formation, called clotting or coagulation, is a series of chemical reactions that culminates in
formation of fibrin threads.
• If blood clots too easily, the result can be thrombosis—clotting in an undamaged blood vessel.
• If the blood takes too long to clot, hemorrhage can occur.
• Clotting involves several substances known as clotting (coagulation) factors.
• These factors include calcium ions (Ca2), several inactive enzymes that are synthesized by hepatocytes (liver
cells) and released into the bloodstream, and various molecules associated with platelets or released by
damaged tissues.
Clotting can be divided into three stages
1. Two pathways, called the extrinsic pathway and the intrinsic pathway, which will be described shortly, lead to
the formation of prothrombinase. Once prothrombinase is formed, the steps involved in the next two stages of
clotting are the same for both the extrinsic and intrinsic pathways, and together these two stages are referred to
as the common pathway.
2. Prothrombinase converts prothrombin (a plasma protein formed by
the liver) into the enzyme thrombin. Thrombin converts soluble fibrinogen
(another plasma protein formed by the liver) into insoluble fibrin.
Fibrin forms the threads of the clot.
BLOOD CLOTTING FACTORS
BLOOD CLOTS
The extrinsic pathway
• fewer steps than the intrinsic pathway and occurs
rapidly—within a matter of seconds if trauma is
severe.
• named because a tissue protein called tissue factor
(TF), also known as thromboplastin, leaks into the
blood from cells outside (extrinsic to) blood vessels
and initiates the formation of prothrombinase.
The intrinsic pathway
• more complex than the extrinsic pathway, and it
occurs more slowly, usually requiring several
minutes.
• named because its activators are either in direct
contact with blood or contained within (intrinsic to)
the blood; outside tissue damage is not needed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8TLTTyyPfI
ROLE OF VIITAMIN K IN CLOTTING
• Normal clotting depends on adequate levels of vitamin K in the body.
• Although vitamin K is not involved in actual clot formation, it is required for the synthesis of four clotting
factors.
• Normally produced by bacteria that inhabit the large intestine, vitamin K is a fat-soluble vitamin that can be
absorbed through the lining of the intestine and into the blood if absorption of lipids is normal.
BLOOD GROUPS AND BLOOD TYPES
• The surfaces of erythrocytes contain a genetically determined assortment of antigens composed of
glycoproteins and glycolipids.
• These antigens, called agglutinogens (a-gloo-TIN-o¯ -jens), occur in characteristic combinations.
• Based on the presence or absence of various antigens, blood is categorized into different blood groups.
Within a given blood group, there may be two or more different blood types
• Two major types are ABO and Rh. Other blood groups include the Lewis, Kell, Kidd, and Duffy systems
BLOOD TYPES
• The ABO blood group is based on two glycolipid antigens called A and B.
• People whose RBCs display only antigen A have type A blood. Those who have only antigen B are type B.
Individuals who have both A and B antigens are type AB; those who have neither antigen A nor B are type O.
• Blood plasma usually contains antibodies called agglutinins (a-GLOO-ti-nins) that react with the A or B antigens
if the two are mixed.
• These are the anti-A antibody, which reacts with antigen A, and the anti-B antibody, which reacts with antigen
B.
• You do not have antibodies that react with the
antigens of your own RBCs, but you do have antibodies
for any antigens that your RBCs lack.
ABO BLOOD TYPING
Rh blood group
• named because the antigen was discovered in the blood of the Rhesus monkey.
• People whose RBCs have Rh antigens are designated Rh (Rh positive); those who lack Rh antigens are designated Rh (Rh
negative).
• Normally, blood plasma does not contain anti-Rh antibodies. If an Rh person receives an Rh blood transfusion, however,
the immune system starts to make anti-Rh antibodies that will remain in the blood.
• If a second transfusion of Rh blood is given later, the previously formed anti-Rh antibodies will cause agglutination and
hemolysis of the RBCs in the donated blood, and a severe reaction may occur.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSADEOvYAhI
BLOOD diseases
1. Sickle-Cell Disease
• The RBCs of a person with sickle-cell disease (SCD) contain Hb-S, an abnormal kind of
hemoglobin. (Normal gene Hb-F)
• When Hb-S gives up oxygen to the interstitial fluid, it forms long, stiff, rodlike structures that
bend the erythrocyte into a sickle shape
PROCESS OF HAEMOPOEISIS
• Red blood cells are highly specialized for their oxygen transport function.
• Because mature RBCs have no nucleus, all their internal space is available for oxygen transport.
• Because RBCs lack mitochondria and generate ATP anaerobically (without oxygen), they do not use up any
of the oxygen they transport.
• A biconcave disc has a much greater surface area for the diffusion of gas molecules into and out of the RBC
than would, say, a sphere or a cube.
• Hemoglobin (Hb)
• Each RBC contains about 280 million hemoglobin molecules.
• A hemoglobin molecule consists of a protein called globin, composed
of four polypeptide chains (two alpha and two beta chains);
a ringlike nonprotein pigment called a heme and Fe; iron molecule in
the Centre
Hemoglobin functions :
1. its key role is transporting oxygen and carbon dioxide (23%),
2. Hemoglobin also plays a role in the regulation of blood flow and blood pressure.
3. gaseous hormone nitric oxide (NO), produced by the endothelial cells that line blood vessels, binds to
hemoglobin. Under some circumstances, hemoglobin releases NO and this causes vasodilation, an
increase in blood vessel diameter that occurs when the smooth muscle in the vessel wall relaxes
Vasodilation improves blood flow and enhances oxygen delivery to cells near the site of NO release
PROCESS OF HAEMOPOEISIS
• Red blood cells live only about 120 days because of the wear and tear their plasma membranes undergo as they squeeze
through blood capillaries.
• Ruptured red blood cells are removed from circulation and destroyed by fixed phagocytic macrophages in the spleen
and liver, and the breakdown products are recycled
• Erythropoiesis (e-rith-ro¯-poy-E¯ -sis), the production of RBCs, starts in the red bone marrow with a precursor cell called
a proerythroblast
• The proerythroblast divides several times, producing cells that begin to synthesize hemoglobin . The cell near the end of
the development sequence ejects its nucleus and becomes a reticulocyte
• Reticulocytes develop into mature red blood cells within 1 to 2 days after their release from red bone marrow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCQn5G1Aw8U
