Basics Blood content (exam#3)

RBC production, Erythrocytes & Hemoglobin, and the functions of the blood

What are the 3 main functions of blood?

Transportation, regulation, and protection

What does the blood transport?

Oxygen, CO2, nutrients, hormones, waste, and heat

How does blood regulate pH?

It uses buffers to bind/release hydrogen ions

What is blood made of?

Plasma & forced elements

What are formed elements

Erthrocytes, Leukocytes, platelets

What is the name for red blood cells?

Erythrocytes

What is the name for white blood cells?

Leukocytes

What is Hematocrit?

A percentage of blood made of formed elements

Red Blood Cells ( Erythrocytes) does what?

Delivers oxygen to the body

What is step 1 of the process of delivering oxygen to the body?

Oxygen enters the body and travels down the trachea into the lungs.

What is step #2 of the process of delivering oxygen to the body?

Oxygen moves into tiny air sacs called alveoli & diffuses from the alveoli into nearby small blood vessels.

What is step #3 of the process of delivering oxygen to the body?

Oxygen attaches to hemoglobin molecules inside red blood cells.

What is step #4 of the process of delivering oxygen to the body?

Oxygenated blood travels from the lungs to the heart and is pumped through the arteries to the rest of the body.

What is step #5 of the process of delivering oxygen to the body

Red blood cells reach body tissues such as muscles and organs, and oxygen is released from hemoglobin and diffuses into the cells

What is step #6 of delivering oxygen throughout the body?

Cells use oxygen to produce ATP through cellular respiration.

What is step #7 of delivering oxygen throughout the body?

Cells produce carbon dioxide as waste, and it travels back through the blood to the lungs to be exhaled.

What proteins carry oxygen in RBCs?

Hemoglobin

What is Hemoglobin made of?

4 globin protiens & 4 heme groups

What binds oxygen?

Iron in heme

Why is oxygen binding reversible?

So it can attach in lungs and detach in tissues

What is step #1 of the process of how Erythropoiesis (RBC’s) are made?

Kidneys act like oxygen sensors, and when they notice low oxygen, they release a hormone called erythropoietin (EPO)

What is step #2 of the process of how Erythropoiesis (RBC’s) are made?

Erythropoietin moves through the bloodstream to red bone marrow (inside the bones)

What is step #3 of the process of how Erythropoiesis (RBC’s) are made?

Erythropoietin then signals the bone marrow that it needs more red blood cells and more stem cells, transforming

What is step #4 of the process of how Erythropoiesis is made? (Cell Maturing)

A hematopic stem cell is present in bone marrow

It then becomes committed to the red blood cell line

The cell then begins producing hemoglobin

The nucleus then shrinks

The nucleus ends up being completely removed from the cell

The cell fills with hemoglobin

The structure of the red blood cell becomes a biconcave disc

Finally, the cell becomes a mature erythrocyte and enters the bloodstream

What is step #5 of the process of how Erythropoiesis is made?

New red blood cells leave the bone marrow and start circulating, and their job is to pick up oxygen in the lungs and deliver it to tissues.

What is step #6 of the process of how Erythropoiesis is made?

Once oxygen levels go back to normal, the kidneys stop releasing erythropoietin, and the red blood cell production slows down.