This book describes Red Blood Cells, Functions, Diseases, Diagnosis and Treatment and Related Diseases
The blood comprises 45% red blood cells (RBCs) or erythrocytes.
RBCs are formed in the bone marrow and do the essential work of delivering oxygen to all of the body's cells.
About 2.5 million RBCs are destroyed and reinstated every second.
In early development, the production of RBC:
1.Begins in the yolk sac
2.Shifts to the liver and spleen during the 3rd month of gestation and finally to
3.The bone marrow in the 5th month.
4.From then on all the RBCs are produced in the bone marrow.
When the medical adulthood is reached, the creation of RBCs is mostly restricted to the marrow from the ends of the long bones, the vertebrae ribs and pelvis.
The life cycle of a normal RBC is about 120 days.
Life and Death of A Red Blood Cell:
My name is Red Bull, the red blood cell.
They called me Red because of the redness of my color and Bull because I am always charging along the Blood stream like a Bull.
There are 5 million red blood cells per cubic millimeter of blood which means that the entire body contains approximately 25 trillion red blood cells
Yes it is true that I have 25 trillions brothers in the human body.
I was born in the bone marrow of the pelvis of my human host.
The other cells wanted to call me Red Pelvis which is a horrible name so I start to chase them in my bull like fashion until they finally called me Red Bull.
I have a best friend who was called Humorous Red because he was born at the bone marrow end of the humerus. He does not mind the name and was always making humorous jokes:
"A man let out a large burp.
Nearby, a man loudly says "How dare you burp before my wife!"
The burper replies "I didn't even know she wanted to burp first!"Hahaha!"
I called him HR. We have lots of fun together
I was born on Christmas day 25/12/2012 at 10.am in the pelvis of my human host.
It took me 7 days in the bone marrow before I was transformed from a stem cell into a developing red blood cell or reticulocyte and then released into the blood stream.
In fact 2 million of new RBCs are released into blood stream every second.
I am expected to live for 120 days which means that I may die on 4/4/2013.
My friend HR was born 2 days after me in the humerus bone.
The first time that I was released into the blood circulation from the bone, I was still an immature RBC or reticulocyte.
It took me 1 day before my Hemoglobin was fully developed and I was able to carry oxygen and carbon dioxide.
That makes me a fully mature RBC.
A mature RBC is biconcave in shape with a disk diameter of 8m and a thickness of 2m.
My responsibility is to carry oxygen to the tissues and remove waste carbon dioxide.
My unique biconcave shape gives small volume and large surface and my induced large surface-to-volume ratio will allow me to contain more hemoglobin which is helpful to increase the rate of diffusion of the Oxygen and Carbon Oxide.
My first day in the blood circulation was in the blood capillary from the bone marrow.
From the capillary I was taken into the venous blood system which then leads me to the heart where I was pumped into an area (the lungs) full of bubbly gas that cling to me.
That gas (oxygen) was so refreshing.
In a short while I was pumped out of the heart into the blood stream.
I literately went round the whole body in 20 seconds.
There are so many stories I can tell about my journey around the body with encounters with bacteria, virus and being saved by the WBC and platelets.
At the end of 120 days , I was engulfed by a macrophage and my heme and protein were recycled to form a new red blood cell. You must read my story!!
TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction
Chapter 1 Red Blood Cells
Ch