What is red blood cells?
Human blood consists of a liquid plasma, andFormal elements: erythrocytes, leukocytes and platelets. Plasma of blood is 55-60%, and the remaining 40-55% are occupied by uniform elements. Each person gave blood once and has at least a small idea of what red blood cells are. Red blood cells, which have the form of biconcave disks, are called erythrocytes. The formation of erythrocytes occurs in an adult in the bone marrow of the spine, skull. In children, in addition, erythrocytes form also in the bones of the legs and hands.
After 3-4 months there is destructionerythrocytes in the liver and spleen. The destruction of erythrocytes can occur in other tissues of the human body - bruises after trauma. In an adult human body, approximately 25 million red blood cells. About 160,000 red blood cells are being reconstructed per day. After the loss of blood, the rate of formation of red blood cells can increase several times. Erythrocytes, for normal development, requires the intake of vitamin B-12, iron and folic acid.
Functions of red blood cells
- transfer oxygen into the tissues of the body from the lungs. Transportation of carbon dioxide is what red cells do, providing a respiratory function.
- preservation of active blood reaction,
- maintenance of ions of the blood composition,
- erythrocytes are involved in water and salt metabolism.
Erythrocytes adsorb toxins, productssplitting of proteins, proteins, carbohydrates. Erythrocytes are elastic, so they freely pass through narrow capillaries. Plasticity of erythrocytes decreases with aging. Plasticity also decreases with the change in the shape of the erythrocyte, that is, with congenital pathology (spherocytes, crescent erythrocytes).
Diseases
Erythrocytosis is one of the diseases that occurs when the number of erythrocytes in the human body increases. Causes of erythrocytosis:
- dehydration of the body with intestinal infection, fever,
- hanging the production of erythropoietin in diseases of the kidneys, as well as with some tumors,
- chronic hypoxia in diseases of the lungs, heart, long-term smoking, when living in high-altitude areas,
- erythremia,
- hereditary erythrocytosis,
- excessively administered erythropoietin from drugs.
With a decrease in the number of erythrocytes and hemoglobin, anemia occurs. And the cause of anemia can be:
- lack of iron, vitamins, folic acid in food,
- chronic or acute bleeding,
- a violation of the assimilation of iron, vitamins in the disease of the gastrointestinal tract,
- chronic infections,
- damage to the bone marrow,
- metastases in the bone marrow of malignant tumors,
- lack of erythropoietin in kidney damage.
