Blood 

is a specialized bodily fluid that delivers necessary substances to the

body's cells – such as nutrients and oxygen – and transports waste products away
from those same cells.

In vertebrates, it is composed of blood cells suspended in a liquid called blood

plasma. Plasma, which constitutes 55% of blood fluid, is mostly water (90% by
volume),[1] and contains dissolved proteins, glucose, mineral ions, hormones, carbon
dioxide(plasma being the main medium for excretory product
transportation), platelets and blood cells themselves. The blood cells present in
blood are mainly red blood cells (also called RBCs or erythrocytes) and white blood
cells, including leukocytes andplatelets. The most abundant cells in vertebrate blood
are red blood cells. These contain hemoglobin, an iron-containing protein, which
facilitates transportation of oxygen by reversibly binding to this respiratory gas and
greatly increasing its solubility in blood. In contrast, carbon dioxide is almost entirely
transported extracellularly dissolved in plasma as bicarbonate ion.

Vertebrate blood is bright red when its hemoglobin is oxygenated. Some animals,
such as crustaceans and mollusks, usehemocyanin to carry oxygen, instead of
hemoglobin. Insects and some molluscs use a fluid called hemolymph instead of
blood, the difference being that hemolymph is not contained in a closed circulatory
system. In most insects, this "blood" does not contain oxygen-carrying molecules
such as hemoglobin because their bodies are small enough for their tracheal
system to suffice for supplying oxygen.

Jawed vertebrates have an adaptive immune system, based largely on white blood

cells. White blood cells help to resist infections and parasites. Platelets are important
in the clotting of blood.[2] Arthropods, using hemolymph, have hemocytes as part of
their immune system.

Blood is circulated around the body through blood vessels by the pumping action of
the heart. In animals with lungs, arterial blood carries oxygen from inhaled air to the
tissues of the body, and venous blood carries carbon dioxide, a waste product
of metabolism produced by cells, from the tissues to the lungs to be exhaled.

Medical terms related to blood often begin with hemo- or hemato- (also

spelled haemo- and haemato-) from the Ancient Greek word αἷμα(haima) for
"blood". In terms of anatomy and histology, blood is considered a specialized form
of connective tissue, given its origin in the bones and the presence of potential
molecular fibers in the form of fibrinogen.
Functions

Blood performs many important functions within the body including:

 Supply of oxygen to tissues (bound to hemoglobin, which is carried in red
cells)
 Supply of nutrients such as glucose, amino acids, and fatty acids (dissolved in
the blood or bound to plasma proteins (e.g., blood lipids)
 Removal of waste such as carbon dioxide, urea, and lactic acid
 Immunological functions, including circulation of white blood cells, and
detection of foreign material by antibodies
 Coagulation, which is one part of the body's self-repair mechanism (the act of
blood clotting when one gets cut to stop the bleeding.)
 Messenger functions, including the transport of hormones and the signaling
of tissue damage
 Regulation of body pH
 Regulation of core body temperature
 Hydraulic functions
[edit]Constituents of human blood
See also: Reference ranges for common blood tests

Blood accounts for 8% of the human body weight,[3] with an average density of

approximately 1060 kg/m3, very close to pure water's density of 1000 kg/m3.[4] The
average adult has a blood volume of roughly 5 liters (1.3 gal), composed of plasma
and several kinds of cells (occasionally called corpuscles); these formed elements of
the blood are erythrocytes (red blood cells), leukocytes (white blood cells), and
thrombocytes (platelets). By volume, the red blood cells constitute about 45% of
whole blood, the plasma about 54.3%, and white cells about 0.7%.

Whole blood (plasma and cells) exhibits non-Newtonian fluid dynamics; its flow

properties are adapted to flow effectively through tiny capillary blood vessels with
less resistance than plasma by itself. In addition, if all human hemoglobin were free
in the plasma rather than being contained in RBCs, the circulatory fluid would be too
viscous for the cardiovascular system to function effectively.
[edit]Cells
Further information: Complete blood count

One microliter of blood contains:

 4.7 to 6.1 million (male), 4.2 to 5.4 million (female) erythrocytes:[5] In most

mammals, mature red blood cells lack a nucleus andorganelles. They contain the
blood's hemoglobin and distribute oxygen. The red blood cells (together
with endothelial vessel cells and other cells) are also marked
by glycoproteins that define the different blood types. The proportion of blood
 occupied by red blood cells is referred to as the hematocrit, and is normally about
45%. The combined surface area of all red blood cells of the human body would
be roughly 2,000 times as great as the body's exterior surface.[6]
 4,000–11,000 leukocytes:[7] White blood cells are part of the immune system;
they destroy and remove old or aberrant cells and cellular debris, as well as
attack infectious agents
(pathogens) and foreign Constitution of normal blood
substances. The cancer of Parameter Value
leukocytes is called leukemia.
45 ± 7 (38–52%) for males
 200,000–500,000 Hematocrit
42 ± 5 (37–47%) for females
thrombocytes:[7] thrombocytes,
also called platelets, are pH 7.35–7.45
responsible for blood clotting base excess −3 to +3
(coagulation). They PO2 10–13 kPa (80–100 mm Hg)
changefibrinogen into fibrin. This PCO2 4.8–5.8 kPa (35–45 mm Hg)
fibrin creates a mesh onto which HCO3− 21–27 mM
red blood cells collect and clot,
Oxygen Oxygenated: 98–99%
which then stops more blood
saturation Deoxygenated: 75%
from leaving the body and also
helps to prevent bacteria from
entering the body.
[edit]Plasma
About 55% of whole blood is blood plasma, a fluid that is the blood's liquid medium,
which by itself is straw-yellow in color. The blood plasma volume totals of 2.7–3.0
liters (2.8–3.2 quarts) in an average human. It is essentially an aqueous solution
containing 92% water, 8% blood plasma proteins, and trace amounts of other
materials. Plasma circulates dissolved nutrients, such as glucose, amino acids,
and fatty acids (dissolved in the blood or bound to plasma proteins), and removes
waste products, such as carbon dioxide, urea, and lactic acid.

Other important components include:

 Serum albumin
 Blood-clotting factors (to facilitate coagulation)
 Immunoglobulins (antibodies)
 lipoprotein particles
 Various other proteins
 Various electrolytes (mainly sodium and chloride)
The term serum refers to plasma from which the clotting proteins have been
removed. Most of the proteins remaining are albumin and immunoglobulins.
[edit]Narrow range of pH values
See also: Acid-base homeostasis

Blood pH is regulated to stay within the narrow range of 7.35 to 7.45, making it
slightly alkaline.[8][9] Blood that has a pH below 7.35 is too acidic, whereas blood pH
above 7.45 is tooalkaline. Blood pH, partial pressure of oxygen (pO2), partial
pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2), and HCO3 are carefully regulated by a number
of homeostatic mechanisms, which exert their influence principally through
the respiratory system and the urinary system in order to control the acid-base
balance and respiration. An arterial blood gas will measure these. Plasma also
circulates hormones transmitting their messages to various tissues. The list of
normal reference ranges for various blood electrolytes is extensive.

Bones are especially affected by blood pH as they tend to be used as a mineral

source for pH buffering. Consuming a high ratio of animal protein to vegetable
protein is implicated in bone loss in women.[10]
[edit]Blood in non-human vertebrates
Human blood is typical of that of mammals, although the precise details concerning
cell numbers, size, protein structure, and so on, vary somewhat between species. In
non-mammalian vertebrates, however, there are some key differences:[11]

 Red blood cells of non-mammalian vertebrates are flattened and ovoid in

form, and retain their cell nuclei
 There is considerable variation in the types and proportions of white blood
cells; for example, acidophils are generally more common than in humans
 Platelets are unique to mammals; in other vertebrates, small, nucleated,
spindle cells are responsible for blood clotting instead
[edit]Physiology
[edit]Cardiovascular system
Main article: Circulatory system

Blood is circulated around the body through blood vessels by the pumping action of
the heart. In humans, blood is pumped from the strong left ventricle of the heart
through arteries to peripheral tissues and returns to the right atrium of the heart
through veins. It then enters the rightventricle and is pumped through the pulmonary
artery to the lungs and returns to the left atrium through the pulmonary veins. Blood
then enters the left ventricle to be circulated again. Arterial blood carries oxygen from
inhaled air to all of the cells of the body, and venous blood carries carbon dioxide, a
waste product of metabolism by cells, to the lungs to be exhaled. However, one
exception includes pulmonary arteries, which contain the most deoxygenated blood
in the body, while the pulmonary veins contain oxygenated blood.

Additional return flow may be generated by the movement of skeletal muscles, which
can compress veins and push blood through the valves in veins toward the right
atrium.

The blood circulation was famously described by William Harvey in 1628.[12]

[edit]Production and degradation of blood cells
In vertebrates, the various cells of blood are made in the bone marrow in a process
called hematopoiesis, which includes erythropoiesis, the production of red blood
cells; and myelopoiesis, the production of white blood cells and platelets. During
childhood, almost every human bone produces red blood cells; as adults, red blood
cell production is limited to the larger bones: the bodies of the vertebrae, the
breastbone (sternum), the ribcage, the pelvic bones, and the bones of the upper
arms and legs. In addition, during childhood, the thymus gland, found in
the mediastinum, is an important source of lymphocytes.[13] The proteinaceous
component of blood (including clotting proteins) is produced predominantly by
the liver, while hormones are produced by the endocrine glands and the watery
fraction is regulated by the hypothalamusand maintained by the kidney.

Healthy erythrocytes have a plasma life of about 120 days before they are degraded
by the spleen, and the Kupffer cells in the liver. The liver also clears some proteins,
lipids, and amino acids. The kidney actively secretes waste products into the urine.
[edit]Oxygen transport
About 98.5% of the oxygen in a sample of arterial blood in a healthy human
breathing air at sea-level pressure is chemically combined with the Hgb. About 1.5%
is physically dissolved in the other blood liquids and not connected to Hgb.
The hemoglobin molecule is the primary transporter of oxygen in mammals and
many other species (for exceptions, see below). Hemoglobin has an oxygen binding
capacity of between 1.36 and 1.37 ml O2 per gram Hemoglobin,[14] which increases
the total blood oxygen capacity seventyfold,[15] compared to if oxygen solely was
carried by its solubility of 0.03 mL O2 per liter blood per mmHg partial pressure of
oxygen (approximately 100 mmHg in arteries).[15]

With the exception of pulmonary and umbilical arteries and their corresponding

veins, arteries carry oxygenated blood away from the heart and deliver it to the body
via arterioles and capillaries, where the oxygen is consumed; afterwards, venules,
and veins carry deoxygenated blood back to the heart.
Under normal conditions in humans at rest, hemoglobin in blood leaving the lungs is
about 98–99% saturated with oxygen. In a healthy adult at rest, deoxygenated blood
returning to the lungs is still approximately 75% saturated.[16][17] Increased oxygen
consumption during sustained exercise reduces the oxygen saturation of venous
blood, which can reach less than 15% in a trained athlete; although breathing rate
and blood flow increase to compensate, oxygen saturation in arterial blood can drop
to 95% or less under these conditions.[18] Oxygen saturation this low is considered
dangerous in an individual at rest (for instance, during surgery under anesthesia.
Sustained hypoxia (oxygenation of less than 90%), is dangerous to health, and
severe hypoxia (saturations of less than 30%) may be rapidly fatal.[19]

A fetus, receiving oxygen via the placenta, is exposed to much lower oxygen

pressures (about 21% of the level found in an adult's lungs), and, so, fetuses
produce another form of hemoglobin with a much higher affinity for oxygen
(hemoglobin F) in order to function under these conditions.[20]
[edit]Carbon dioxide transport
When blood flows through capillaries, carbon dioxide diffuses from the tissues into
the blood. Some carbon dioxide is dissolved in the blood. A part of CO2 reacts with
hemoglobin and other proteins to form carbamino compounds. The remaining carbon
dioxide is converted to bicarbonate and hydrogen ions through the action of
RBC carbonic anhydrase. Most carbon dioxide is transported through the blood in
the form of bicarbonate ions.

Carbon dioxide (CO2), the main cellular waste product is carried in blood mainly

dissolved in plasma, in equilibrium with bicarbonate (HCO3-) and carbonic
acid (H2CO3). 86–90% of CO2in the body is converted into carbonic acid, which can
quickly turn into bicarbonate, the chemical equilibrium being important in the
pH buffering of plasma.[21] Blood pH is kept in a narrow range (pH between 7.35 and
7.45).[9]
[edit]Transport of hydrogen ions
Some oxyhemoglobin loses oxygen and becomes deoxyhemoglobin.
Deoxyhemoglobin binds most of the hydrogen ions as it has a much greater affinity
for more hydrogen than does oxyhemoglobin.
[edit]Lymphatic system
Main article: Lymphatic system

In mammals, blood is in equilibrium with lymph, which is continuously formed in

tissues from blood by capillary ultrafiltration. Lymph is collected by a system of small
lymphatic vessels and directed to the thoracic duct, which drains into the
left subclavian vein where lymph rejoins the systemic blood circulation.
[edit]Thermoregulation
Blood circulation transports heat throughout the body, and adjustments to this flow
are an important part of thermoregulation. Increasing blood flow to the surface (e.g.,
during warm weather or strenuous exercise) causes warmer skin, resulting in faster
heat loss. In contrast, when the external temperature is low, blood flow to the
extremities and surface of the skin is reduced and to prevent heat loss and is
circulated to the important organs of the body, preferentially.
[edit]Hydraulic functions
The restriction of blood flow can also be used in specialized tissues to cause
engorgement, resulting in an erection of that tissue; examples are the erectile
tissue in the penis andclitoris.

Another example of a hydraulic function is the jumping spider, in which blood forced

into the legs under pressure causes them to straighten for a powerful jump, without
the need for bulky muscular legs.[22]
[edit]Invertebrates
In insects, the blood (more properly called hemolymph) is not involved in the
transport of oxygen. (Openings called tracheae allow oxygen from the air to diffuse
directly to the tissues). Insect blood moves nutrients to the tissues and removes
waste products in an open system.

Other invertebrates use respiratory proteins to increase the oxygen-carrying

capacity. Hemoglobin is the most common respiratory protein found in
nature. Hemocyanin (blue) containscopper and is found
in crustaceans and mollusks. It is thought that tunicates (sea squirts) might
use vanabins (proteins containing vanadium) for respiratory pigment (bright-green,
blue, or orange).

In many invertebrates, these oxygen-carrying proteins are freely soluble in the blood;
in vertebrates they are contained in specialized red blood cells, allowing for a higher
concentration of respiratory pigments without increasing viscosity or damaging blood
filtering organs like the kidneys.

Giant tube worms have unusual hemoglobins that allow them to live in extraordinary
environments. These hemoglobins also carry sulfides normally fatal in other animals.
[edit]Color
[edit]Hemoglobin
Hemoglobin is the principal determinant of the color of blood in vertebrates. Each
molecule has four heme groups, and their interaction with various molecules alters
the exact color. In vertebrates and other hemoglobin-using creatures, arterial blood
and capillary blood are bright red, as oxygen imparts a strong red color to the heme
group. Deoxygenated blood is a darker shade of red; this is present in veins, and can
be seen during blood donation and when venous blood samples are taken. Blood
in carbon monoxide poisoning is bright red, because carbon monoxide causes the
formation of carboxyhemoglobin. In cyanide poisoning, the body cannot utilize
oxygen, so the venous blood remains oxygenated, increasing the redness. While
hemoglobin-containing blood is never blue, there are several conditions and
diseases wherein the color of the heme groups make the skin appear blue. If the
heme is oxidized, methaemoglobin, which is more brownish and cannot transport
oxygen, is formed. In the rare condition sulfhemoglobinemia, arterial hemoglobin is
partially oxygenated, and appears dark red with a bluish hue (cyanosis).

Veins in the skin appear blue for a variety of reasons only weakly dependent on the
color of the blood. Light scattering in the skin, and the visual processing of color play
roles as well.[23]

Skinks in the genus Prasinohaema have green blood due to a buildup of the waste

product biliverdin.[24]
[edit]Hemocyanin
The blood of most mollusks – including cephalopods and gastropods – as well as
some arthropods, such as horseshoe crabs, is blue, as it contains the copper-
containing protein hemocyanin at concentrations of about 50 grams per liter.
[25]
 Hemocyanin is colorless when deoxygenated and dark blue when oxygenated.
The blood in the circulation of these creatures, which generally live in cold
environments with low oxygen tensions, is grey-white to pale yellow,[25] and it turns
dark blue when exposed to the oxygen in the air, as seen when they bleed.[25] This is
due to change in color of hemocyanin when it is oxidized.[25] Hemocyanin carries
oxygen in extracellular fluid, which is in contrast to the intracellular oxygen transport
in mammals by hemoglobin in RBCs.[25]
[edit]Pathology
[edit]General medical disorders

 Disorders of volume
 Injury can cause blood loss through bleeding.[26] A healthy adult can
lose almost 20% of blood volume (1 L) before the first symptom, restlessness,
begins, and 40% of volume (2 L) before shock sets in. Thrombocytes are
 important for blood coagulation and the formation of blood clots, which can
stop bleeding. Trauma to the internal organs or bones can cause internal
bleeding, which can sometimes be severe.
 Dehydration can reduce the blood volume by reducing the water
content of the blood. This would rarely result in shock (apart from the very
severe cases) but may result inorthostatic hypotension and fainting.
 Disorders of circulation
 Shock is the ineffective perfusion of tissues, and can be caused by a
variety of conditions including blood loss, infection, poor cardiac output.
 Atherosclerosis reduces the flow of blood through arteries, because
atheroma lines arteries and narrows them. Atheroma tends to increase with
age, and its progression can be compounded by many causes including
smoking, high blood pressure, excess circulating lipids (hyperlipidemia),
and diabetes mellitus.
 Coagulation can form a thrombosis, which can obstruct vessels.
 Problems with blood composition, the pumping action of the heart, or
narrowing of blood vessels can have many consequences including hypoxia
(lack of oxygen) of the tissues supplied. The term ischemia refers to tissue
that is inadequately perfused with blood, and infarction refers to tissue death
(necrosis), which can occur when the blood supply has been blocked (or is
very inadequate).
[edit]Hematological disorders
See also: Hematology

 Anemia
 Insufficient red cell mass (anemia) can be the result of bleeding, blood
disorders like thalassemia, or nutritional deficiencies; and may require blood
transfusion. Several countries have blood banks to fill the demand for
transfusable blood. A person receiving a blood transfusion must have a blood
type compatible with that of the donor.
 Sickle-cell anemia

 Disorders of cell proliferation

 Leukemia is a group of cancers of the blood-forming tissues.
 Non-cancerous overproduction of red cells (polycythemia vera) or
platelets (essential thrombocytosis) may be premalignant.
 Myelodysplastic syndromes involve ineffective production of one or
more cell lines.
 Disorders of coagulation
 Hemophilia is a genetic illness that causes dysfunction in one of the
blood's clotting mechanisms. This can allow otherwise inconsequential
wounds to be life-threatening, but more commonly results in hemarthrosis, or
bleeding into joint spaces, which can be crippling.
 Ineffective or insufficient platelets can also result
in coagulopathy (bleeding disorders).
 Hypercoagulable state (thrombophilia) results from defects in
regulation of platelet or clotting factor function, and can cause thrombosis.

 Infectious disorders of blood

 Blood is an important vector of infection. HIV, the virus, which
causes AIDS, is transmitted through contact with blood, semen or other body
secretions of an infected person.Hepatitis B and C are transmitted primarily
through blood contact. Owing to blood-borne infections, bloodstained objects
are treated as a biohazard.
 Bacterial infection of the blood is bacteremia or sepsis. Viral Infection is
viremia. Malaria and trypanosomiasis are blood-borne parasitic infections.
[edit]Carbon monoxide poisoning
Main article: Carbon monoxide poisoning

Substances other than oxygen can bind to hemoglobin; in some cases this can
cause irreversible damage to the body. Carbon monoxide, for example, is extremely
dangerous when carried to the blood via the lungs by inhalation, because carbon
monoxide irreversibly binds to hemoglobin to form carboxyhemoglobin, so that less
hemoglobin is free to bind oxygen, and less oxygen can be transported in the blood.
This can cause suffocation insidiously. A fire burning in an enclosed room with poor
ventilation presents a very dangerous hazard, since it can create a build-up of
carbon monoxide in the air. Some carbon monoxide binds to hemoglobin when
smoking tobacco.[citation needed]
[edit]Medical treatments
[edit]Blood products
Further information: Blood transfusion

Blood for transfusion is obtained from human donors by blood donation and stored in
a blood bank. There are many different blood types in humans, the ABO blood group
system, and the Rhesus blood group system being the most important. Transfusion
of blood of an incompatible blood group may cause severe, often fatal,
complications, so crossmatching is done to ensure that a compatible blood product is
transfused.

Other blood products administered intravenously are platelets, blood plasma,

cryoprecipitate, and specific coagulation factor concentrates.
[edit]Intravenous administration
Many forms of medication (from antibiotics to chemotherapy) are administered
intravenously, as they are not readily or adequately absorbed by the digestive tract.

After severe acute blood loss, liquid preparations, generically known as plasma
expanders, can be given intravenously, either solutions of salts (NaCl, KCl,
CaCl2 etc...) at physiological concentrations, or colloidal solutions, such as
dextrans, human serum albumin, or fresh frozen plasma. In these emergency
situations, a plasma expander is a more effective life-saving procedure than a blood
transfusion, because the metabolism of transfused red blood cells does not restart
immediately after a transfusion.
[edit]Bloodletting
Main article: bloodletting

In modern evidence-based medicine, bloodletting is used in management of a few

rare diseases, including hemochromatosis and polycythemia.
However, bloodletting and leeching were common unvalidated interventions used
until the 19th century, as many diseases were incorrectly thought to be due to an
excess of blood, according to Hippocratic medicine.
[edit]History

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word "blood" originated before the
12th century. The word is derived from Middle English, which is derived from the Old
English word blôd, which is akin to the Old High German word bluot, meaning blood.
The modern German word is blut.
[edit]Classical Greek medicine
In classical Greek medicine, blood was associated with air, with Springtime, and with
a merry and gluttonous (sanguine) personality. It was also believed to be produced
exclusively by the liver.
[edit]Hippocratic medicine
In Hippocratic medicine, blood was considered to be one of the four humors, the
others being phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile.
[edit]Cultural and religious beliefs
Due to its importance to life, blood is associated with a large number of beliefs. One
of the most basic is the use of blood as a symbol for family relationships through
birth/parentage; to be "related by blood" is to be related by ancestry or descendance,
rather than marriage. This bears closely to bloodlines, and sayings such as "blood is
thicker than water" and "bad blood", as well as "Blood brother". Blood is given
particular emphasis in the Jewish and Christian religions because Leviticus 17:11
says "the life of a creature is in the blood." This phrase is part of the Levitical law
forbidding the drinking of blood or eating meat with the blood still intact instead of
being poured off.

Mythic references to blood can sometimes be connected to the life-giving nature of

blood, seen in such events as childbirth, as contrasted with the blood of injury or
death.
[edit]Indigenous Australians
In many indigenous Australian Aboriginal peoples' traditions, ochre (particularly red)
and blood, both high in iron content and considered Maban, are applied to the bodies
of dancers for ritual. As Lawlor states:

In many Aboriginal rituals and ceremonies, red ochre is rubbed all over the naked
bodies of the dancers. In secret, sacred male ceremonies, blood extracted from the
veins of the participant's arms is exchanged and rubbed on their bodies. Red ochre
is used in similar ways in less-secret ceremonies. Blood is also used to fasten the
feathers of birds onto people's bodies. Bird feathers contain a protein that is highly
magnetically sensitive.[27]

Lawlor comments that blood employed in this fashion is held by these peoples to
attune the dancers to the invisible energetic realm of the Dreamtime. Lawlor then
connects these invisible energetic realms and magnetic fields, because iron
is magnetic.
[edit]Indo-European paganism
Among the Germanic tribes (such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norsemen), blood
was used during their sacrifices; the Blóts. The blood was considered to have the
power of its originator, and, after the butchering, the blood was sprinkled on the
walls, on the statues of the gods, and on the participants themselves. This act of
sprinkling blood was calledbleodsian in Old English, and the terminology was
borrowed by the Roman Catholic Church becoming to bless and blessing.
The Hittite word for blood, ishar was a cognate to words for "oath" and "bond",
see Ishara. The Ancient Greeks believed that the blood of the gods, ichor, was a
mineral that was poisonous to mortals.
[edit]Judaism
In Judaism, blood cannot be consumed even in the smallest quantity (Leviticus 3:17
and elsewhere); this is reflected in Jewish dietary laws (Kashrut). Blood is purged
from meat bysalting and soaking in water.

Another ritual involving blood involves the covering of the blood

of fowl and game after slaughtering (Leviticus 17:13); the reason given by
the Torah is: "Because the life of the animal is [in] its blood" (ibid 17:14).

Also if a person of the orthodox Jewish faith suffers a violent death, religious laws
order the collection of their blood for burial with them.
[edit]Christianity
Main article: Eucharist

Some Christian churches, including Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental

Orthodoxy, and the Assyrian Church of the East teach that, when consecrated, the
Eucharistic wine actually  becomes the blood of Jesus. Thus in the consecrated wine,
Jesus becomes spiritually and physically present. This teaching is rooted in the Last
Supper, as written in the four gospels of the Bible, in which Jesus stated to
his disciples that the bread that they ate was his body, and the wine was his
blood. "This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you." (Luke
22:20).

Various forms of Protestantism, especially those of

a Wesleyan or Presbyterian lineage, teach that the wine is no more than a symbol of
the blood of Christ, who is spiritually but not physically present. Lutheran theology
teaches that the body and blood is present together "in, with, and under" the bread
and wine of the Eucharistic feast.

Christ's blood is also seen as the means for atonement for sins for Christians.

At the Council of Jerusalem, the apostles prohibited Christians from consuming

blood, probably because this was a command given to Noah (Genesis 9:4,
see Noahide Law). This command continued to be observed by the Eastern
Orthodox.
[edit]Islam
Consumption of food containing blood is forbidden by Islamic dietary laws. This is
derived from the statement in the Qur'an, sura Al-Ma'ida (5:3): "Forbidden to you (for
food) are: dead meat, blood, the flesh of swine, and that on which has been invoked
the name of other than Allah."
Blood is considered as unclean and in Islam cleanliness is part of the faith, hence
there are specific methods to obtain physical and ritual status of cleanliness once
bleeding has occurred. Specific rules and prohibitions apply to menstruation,
postnatal bleeding and irregular vaginal bleeding.
[edit]Jehovah's Witnesses
Main article: Jehovah's Witnesses and blood

Based on their interpretation of scriptures such as Acts 15:28, 29 ("Keep

abstaining...from blood."), Jehovah's Witnesses neither consume blood nor accept
transfusions of whole blood or its major components: red blood cells, white blood
cells, platelets (thrombocytes), and plasma. Members may personally decide
whether they will accept medical procedures that involve their own blood or
substances that are further fractionated from the four major components.[28]
[edit]Chinese and Japanese culture
In Chinese popular culture, it is often said that, if a man's nose produces a small flow
of blood, this signifies that he is experiencing sexual desire. This often appears
in Chinese-languageand Hong Kong films as well as in Japanese culture parodied
in anime and manga. Characters, mostly males, will often be shown with
a nosebleed if they have just seen someone nudeor in little clothing, or if they have
had an erotic thought or fantasy; this is based on the idea that a male's blood
pressure will spike dramatically when aroused.[29]
[edit]Blood libel
Main article: Blood libel

Various religious and other groups have been falsely accused of using human blood
in rituals; such accusations are known as blood libel. The most common form of this
is blood libel against Jews. Although there is no ritual involving human blood in
Jewish law or custom, fabrications of this nature (often involving the murder of
children) were widely used during the Middle Ages to justify Antisemitic persecution.
[edit]Vampire legends
Main article: Vampire

Vampires are mythical creatures that drink blood directly for sustenance, usually with
a preference for human blood. Cultures all over the world have myths of this kind; for
example the 'Nosferatu' legend, a human who achieves damnation and immortality
by drinking the blood of others, originates from Eastern European
folklore. Ticks, leeches, female mosquitoes,vampire bats, and an assortment of other
natural creatures do drink blood, but only bats are associated with vampires. This
has no relation to vampire bats, which are new world creatures discovered well after
the origins of the European myths.
[edit]Applications
[edit]In the applied sciences
Blood residue can help forensic investigators identify weapons, reconstruct a
criminal action, and link suspects to the crime. Through bloodstain pattern analysis,
forensic information can also be gained from the spatial distribution of bloodstains.

Blood residue analysis is also a technique used in archeology.

[edit]In art
Blood is one of the body fluids that has been used in art.[30] In particular, the
performances of Viennese Actionist Hermann Nitsch, Franko B, Lennie Lee, Ron
Athey, Yang Zhichao, andKira O' Reilly, along with the photography of Andres
Serrano, have incorporated blood as a prominent visual element. Marc Quinn has
made sculptures using frozen blood, including a cast of his own head made using his
own blood.
[edit]In genealogy & family history
The term, blood, is used in genealogical circles to refer to one's ancestry, origins,
and ethnic background, as in the word, bloodline. Other terms where blood is used in
a family history sense are blue-blood, royal blood, mixed-blood and blood relative.