Functions of blood: Transport Around the Body

What Is Blood?

Blood is a fluid that travels in every part of the human system, performing highly variant functions that are vital for life. The blood, comprising different constituents, supplies not only oxygen and nutrition but also plays an important role in the scavenging process for waste products and defending against infection.

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This Story also Contains

1. What Is Blood?
2. Composition Of Blood
3. Red Blood Cells (RBCs)
4. White Blood Cells (WBCs)
5. Platelets
6. The Transportation Function
7. Regulatory Function
8. Protective Functions
9. Diagnostic Uses Of Blood
10. Blood Diseases
11. The Video Recommended For The Functions Of Blood

Understanding the functions of blood is very basic for class 9 students as well as for those preparing for the NEET exam. Hence, it becomes highly imperative to have in-depth knowledge of blood composition with its multiple functions to have a complete overview for academic purposes.

Composition Of Blood

Blood consists basically of plasma and formed elements; these two components perform certain functions to maintain health and homeostasis.

Plasma

• Definition and Composition: Plasma is a fluid constituent of blood, containing mostly 90% water, and the balance comprises proteins, nutrients, hormones, gas, waste products, and salts.

• Functions of Plasma: Maintenance of blood pressure and volume and a medium of transport of nutrients, hormones, and waste products.

Formed Elements

The elements are comprised of:

Red Blood Cells (RBCs)

• Structure and Function: The RBCs are without a nucleus and have a biconcave shape.

• Their function is related to delivering oxygen from the lungs to the body tissues and returning the carbon dioxide so that it is exhaled outside.

• Haemoglobin and Oxygen Transport: Hemoglobin is a protein of RBCs that determines the amount of oxygen attached to them and thus is transported throughout the body.

White Blood Cells (WBCs)

• Types: Neutrophils, Lymphocytes, Monocytes, Eosinophils, Basophils.

• Functions: WBCs are an integral component of the immune response, and each one has specific functions in the battles of various kinds of infections and other foreign bodies which may intrude within the mammalian system.

Platelets

• Structure and Function: Small cell fragments are known mainly to play their role in blood coagulation thus ensuring that there might not be excessive blood loss.

The Transportation Function

The transport aspect of blood is significant in the carriage of different important substances to the whole body.

Transport Of Oxygen And Carbon Dioxide

• Role of RBCs and Hemoglobin: RBCs and Hb carry oxygen from the lungs to tissues and carry peripheral back to the lungs.

• Gas Exchange in Lungs and Tissues: At the alveoli in the lungs and the cellular level in tissues, oxygen for carbon dioxide.

Nutrient Transport

• Transportation of Glucose, Amino Acids, and Lipids: Blood carries all nutrients required by body cells, such as glucose, amino acids, and lipids, for energy generation and growth of cells.

• Metabolic role: Blood chaffer in nutrients used by body cells for various metabolic functions.

Waste Removal

• Exchange of metabolic waste to kidneys, liver: Waste metabolic products are extracted by the blood, carried to the kidneys and liver, and are finally excreted.

• Detoxification role: The liver purifies the venom pores carried by the blood.

Regulatory Function

Blood helps to regulate various physiological functions to maintain a state of equilibrium or homeostasis.

Homeostasis

• pH Regulation: Buffers present in blood maintain a pH within a very narrow range.
• Temperature Regulation: Blood transports heat generated in the organic system. Heat is dissipated through the skin, helping to maintain temperature.

Transport Of Hormones

• Endocrine Hormones to Target Organs: Blood carries hormones secreted by the endocrine glands that are required by target organs.

• Homeostatic Regulation of Body Functions: Hormones carried by blood regulate many body functions such as growth, metabolism, and reproduction.

Protective Functions

• Blood is the predominant amount involved in the natural defence mechanism of the body.

• Blood proteins are closely associated, directly or indirectly, with several physiological mechanisms of the immune response.

• WBCs recognise and kill the pathogen. Other groups are WBCs and the cell groups related to the immune response.

• Mechanisms of innate and adaptive immunity: Blood helps in innate nonspecific and adaptive specific parts of the immune response.

Blood Clotting

• Process of Coagulation: The process of blood clotting is one where through a series of steps, platelets and clotting factors act in cooperation to form a clot.

• Platelets and Clotting Factors: Platelets bind at the site of injury while clotting factors activate a cascade that results in clotting.

Diagnostic Uses Of Blood

Blood is used for medical testing to detect and monitor health problems.

Blood Tests

• Some common blood tests can tell us about complete blood count.

• Blood glucose and cholesterol are some important indicators of our health.

Indicators Of Disease

Abnormalities in blood elements can reveal such diseases as anaemia, infections, and coagulation diseases.

Blood Diseases

Several diseases of the blood can disrupt normal blood activity.

Anaemia

• Types: Iron deficiency, sickle cell, and aplastic anaemia.

• Signs and therapy: weakness, pallor, and the treatments are iron pills and taking blood.

Leukaemia

• Types: Acute and chronic leukaemia.

• Signs and therapy: Signs are weakness and infection, and treatment is chemotherapy and bone marrow transplant.

Haemophilia

• Genetic causes: Genetic fault in clotting factors.

• Management and Treatment Options: Infusion of clotting factors at regular intervals and preventive care.

Conclusion

Knowledge of the functions of blood is critical to appreciating how the body maintains health and responds to disease. Blood is responsible for far more than mere transportation; it functions in regulation mechanisms, protection, and even as a diagnostic tool. Further research on the functions and disorders of blood might produce more enlightened information relating to human biology and the medical sciences.

The Video Recommended For The Functions Of Blood