Life Fluid

Red Blood Cells

Red blood cells (erythrocytes) carry around a chemical called hemoglobin that gives blood its red colour. The hemoglobin in blood delivers oxygen to your body.

White blood cells

White blood cells (leukocytes) are much larger than red blood cells. When you are healthy, you have few white blood cells in your blood. When you are unwell, your body produces more to fight and protect your body.

There are a few types of white blood cells that do different things, they are:

Granulocytes

Helps wounds heal after an injury. Granulocytes also help prevent infection by surrounding and destroying germs found in your body.

Monocytes

Monocytes are white blood cells that fight infection by surrounding and destroying bacteria and viruses.

There are two types of Lymphocytes: B cells and T cells

B Cells assist in making special proteins called antibodies that recognize bacteria or a virus that has entered your body. Antibodies are specific and can recognize a certain type of germ. Once the antibody identifies it, it destroys it.

B cells can become memory cells that remember how to make the special antibody, so if the same germ infects you again, it can kill the germ even faster.

T Cells

T Cells also battle germs that invade the body, but instead of making antibodies, they work by making special chemicals that help fight the infection.

T cells can be easily distinguished from other lymphocytes by the presence of a T-cell receptor (TCR) on their cell surface.

Platelets

Platelets (thrombocytes) help blood clot and are the smallest of our blood cells and can only be seen under a microscope and shaped like tiny plates in their non-active form.

Volume of Blood

Average adult has 4 - 6 litres of blood.

Plasma

Plasma is the yellowish liquid portion of blood. About 55% of our blood is plasma and, the remaining is red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Platelets suspend in the plasma and, plasma is 92% water.

A normal platelet count ranges from 150,000 to 450,000 platelets per microliter of blood.

Having more than 450,000 platelets is a condition called Thrombocytosis; having less than 150,000 is known as Thrombocytopenia.

You get your platelet number from a routine blood test called a Complete Blood Count (CBC).