The complexity of Blood — Diseases of the blood #1

Did you cut your finger today? If so, you saw something that fascinated scientists for years. That warm, red liquid we call blood is a most remarkable substance made up of many different things. For centuries doctors have been studying all these elements and how they work together in the body.

The old saying, “blood is thicker than water,” is literally true. Human blood is five times thicker than water. That is why your blood has to be pumped under high pressure to be kept in circulation. The blood flowing in your veins and arteries is really a living tissue. A little less than half of it consists of red blood cells whose job it is to carry oxygen to the tissues. The red blood cells also remove the excess carbon dioxide from the system.

_{Image by Par BruceBlaus. Blausen.com staff (2014). "Medical gallery of Blausen Medical 2014". WikiJournal of Medicine 1 (2). CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia commons}

Your blood stream also contains white cells, several important groups of them. They are not nearly as numerous as the red cells, but they are highly important in a different way, for they protect you from harmful germs that would quickly destroy you. Two types of these white cells, the leucocytes, and monocytes, actually devour germs and destroy them. But in so doing, these white cells also die and form pus within an abscess or swelling under the surface of the skin. Some of your white cells die that you might live. Other white cells, such as the lymphocytes, also play an important part in maintaining your body’s resistance against diseases. They can change into other forms of cells to meet the needs of your body and keep you well.

Still another group of white blood cells, known as eosinophils, are most numerous during allergic conditions. Somehow they help the body to handle various toxic substances in the intestines. They are very numerous in the blood stream of people who suffer from trichinosis, an infection that often follows the eating of poorly cooked pork, and also in schistosmiasis, a parasitic infection of the tropics. The basophils have a different function. They apparently liberate heparin into the blood stream, and thus prevent the blood from clotting. They are especially important in cases of prolonged inflammation.

All these various cells make up about 40 per cent of the blood. The other 60 percent of the blood is known as plasma, the liquid part of the blood. The plasma contains many different types of proteins, such as albumin, globulin, fibrinogen. It also contains many other important chemicals, including various salts and food elements, such as glucose that provides energy and fuel for all the cells.

Thus we see that blood is not a simple liquid but a very complex substance. All these different elements must be kept in constant balance so that the body will have whatever materials it needs in just the right amount at the right time to keep you well.

Watch out for DISEASES OF THE BLOOD, Symptoms and Treatment in my next post.

Stay healthy...keep steeming!

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