Blood and Blood vessels

Blood is a liquid that flows through (or circulates) the body and transports substances. It comprises of a number of different cells and chemicals.

Component	About it
Plasma	This is a liquid that makes up the majority of blood. It's mainly water, but also has many different chemicals dissolved in it. These include waste products (like urea and carbon dioxide), salts, glucose, and hormones.
Red Blood Cells	These are specialized cells that transport oxygen around the body. They can do this because they contain haemoglobin which oxygen sticks to. They have two specializations, firstly they have no nucleus so there is plenty of space for haemoglobin; and their shape is a biconcave disk (see above).
White Blood Cells	Please see the main article: Immune System.
Platelets	These are the fragments of other blood cells - small fragments of protein that clot blood. So if you have a cut for example, these would create a kind of a dam that stops blood leaving the blood vessels.

As you most likely know, blood is the most popular transport system in the body by carrying oxygen, hormones and sugars. There are different types of blood vessels that perform different roles.

Vessel	Diagram	Structure	Function
Artery		Has a thick muscular wall that withstands pressure from heartbeat.	Maintains blood pressure and smooth flow of blood to tissue.
Capillary		Thin wall, and small vessel.	Allows exchange of material from blood to tissue.
Vein		Weaker wall with valves in.	The valves prevent blood flowing backwards since it is at lower pressure.

Red Blood Cells. These are very important cells. They are made in bone marrow and only last about 120 days before being destroyed. The crucial thing - they contain haemoglobin and other chemicals that help it function.

Haemoglobin. It is a protein that contains iron ions that pick up oxygen. When these oxygen molecules are stuck to it, it's called oxyhaemoglobin. The relationship between oxygen and haemoglobin is represented in the oxygen dissociation curves.

Put simply, the curve shows that at first, haemoglobin (Hb) is reluctant to pick up oxygen. As the amount of O₂ increases, a few oxygen molecules attach to it. This makes it much easier for the rest to attach. As the partial pressure of oxygen gets very high, the curve levels off. This is because it's already almost fully saturated and getting more to attach to it is difficult.

The light green line on the left shows the approximate position of a curve for fetal haemoglobin. It is in this position because their haemoglobin will pick up oxygen more easily than the mother's will. This means it will pick up the oxygen as the mother looses it. The fetal Hb is said to have a higher affinity for oxygen because it picks it up more easily.

To the right, the black line is the curve in high CO₂ concentrations. The Hb has a lower affinity to oxygen. The reason for this is known as the Bohr Affect More carbon dioxide makes the blood more acidic.

The capillary is a key part of the circulatory system, it allows for the exchange of substances being transported by the blood into the tissue fluid, and it is able to do this because it is permeable. The tissue fluid is a liquid that surrounds all cells. Substances like carbon dioxide and are exchanged through it. It has a similar composition to blood, except for larger proteins which are too big. A basic outline of the capillary is shown below along with the pressure changes through it.

Blood enters the capillary through the capillary. At first, hydrostatic (force of blood being pumped) pressure is very high, which forces fluid out of the blood vessel, and into the tissue fluid. However, as the blood travels through the capillary, the pressure drops because volume is reducing. When it goes below the water potential, fluid drains back into the blood vessel.

As the graph shows, most of the time the hydrostatic pressure is high so more fluid leaves the blood than goes back into it. This is where the lymph is important, because it removes excess fluid and carries it around the lymphatic system where it is later deposited into the blood stream again in the neck.

If you need to reference this article in your work, you can copy-paste the following depending on your required format:

APA (American Psychological Association)
Blood and Blood vessels. (2017). In ScienceAid. Retrieved Apr 25, 2024, from https://scienceaid.net/biology/humans/vesselsblood.html

MLA (Modern Language Association) "Blood and Blood vessels." ScienceAid, scienceaid.net/biology/humans/vesselsblood.html Accessed 25 Apr 2024.

Chicago / Turabian ScienceAid.net. "Blood and Blood vessels." Accessed Apr 25, 2024. https://scienceaid.net/biology/humans/vesselsblood.html.

If you have problems with any of the steps in this article, please ask a question for more help, or post in the comments section below.

Comments