Chapter 10 - Blood

What are the three major functions of blood?

Transportation, Regulation, Protection.

What does blood transport?

It delivers oxygen from the lungs to the cells of the body, moves CO₂ from the lungs, carries nutrients, waste, hormones.

What does blood regulate?

A steady pH of body fluids.

What does blood protect?

Forms seals or clots in response to injury.

What are the two components of blood?

Plasma and formed elements (cells)

What is plasma made out of?

Water and proteins that defend against foreign substances, maintain osmotic pressure, and form blood clots.

What are the three formed elements in blood?

White blood cells, platelets, and hemoglobin.

What is a difference between white blood cells and red blood cells?

White blood cells have nuclei.

What is hemopoiesis?

Blood cell production.

Where does hemopoiesis (blood cell production) take place?

In pluripotent stem cells (red bone marrow).

What are the two types of stem cells that break off of pluripotent stem cells?

lymphoid stem cells and myeloid stem cells.

What is erythropoiesis?

Red blood cell production.

What is erythropoietin?

A hormone released by the kidneys that stimulates red blood cell production.

What is leukocytosis?

Increase in white blood cells.

What happens after 120 days (when red blood cells die)?

They are dismantled in the spleen, liver, and red bone marrow. Hemoglobin breaks apart. Iron is recycled into red bone marrow.

What is hemostasis?

The stoppage of bleeding due to physiological responses.

What are the major hemostatic mechanisms that stop blood loss? (AKA hemorrhage)

Vascular spasm (restricts blood flow in damaged vessels),

Platelet plug (seals the damaged blood vessel),

Blood clotting/coagulation (closes up a wound by using chemicals called clotting factors and fibrinogen)

What is fibrinolysis?

Dissolution of a blood clot by protein digesting enzymes.

What are the steps in fibrinolysis?

Inactive plasma enzyme (plasminogen) goes to the clot
The plasminogen is converted to plasmin.
Plasmin then digests fibrin threats and dissolves the clot.

What is embolus?

When a blood clot is transported by the blood.

What are antigens?

Substances on RBCs that has the ability to provoke an immune response (this creates AB, O, O+, O-, etc)

What are antibodies?

Proteins in the blood that can bind to specific antigens.

What is polycythemia?

The production of too many RBCs.

What is anemia?

Too few RBCs.