Kavayitri Bahinabai Chaudhari North

Maharashtra University, Jalgaon

Composition of Blood
& It’s Functions
By
Suryawanshi Nitesh Subhash
(M.Sc IInd year Biochemistry)
School of life sciences
Contents
i. Blood
ii. Properties of Blood
iii. Components of Blood
iv. Plasma
v. Serum
vi. Erythrocytes/RBC
vii. Leucocytes/WBC
viii.Thrombocytes(Platelets)
ix. Functions of Blood
x. References
BLOOD
• Blood is a connective tissue in fluid form.
• It is considered as the 'fluid of life' because it carries oxygen from lungs
to all parts of the body and carbon dioxide from all parts of the body to
the lungs.
• It is known as 'fluid of growth' because it carries nutritive substances
from the digestive system and hormones from endocrine gland to all
the tissues.
• The blood is also called the 'fluid of health' because it protects the body
against the diseases and gets rid of the waste products and unwanted
substances by transporting them to the excretory organs like kidneys.
PROPERTIES OF BLOOD
• Color: Blood is red in color. Arterial blood is scarlet red because it
contains more oxygen and venous blood is purples red because of more
carbon dioxide. Blood
• Volume: Average volume of blood in a normal adult is 5 L. In a newborn
baby, the volume is 450 ml. It increases during growth and reaches 5 L at
the time of puberty.In females, it is slightly less and is about 4.5 L. It is
about 8% of the body weight in a normal young healthy adult, weighing
about 70 kg.
• Reaction and pH: Blood is slightly alkaline and its pH in normal
conditions is 7.4
• Specific gravity:Specific gravity of total blood: 1.052 to 1.061
• Viscocity: Blood is 5 times more viscous than water. It is mainly due to
Red Blood Cells and Plasma Proteins
COMPONENTS OF BLOOD

• There are many cellular structures

in the composition of blood.
• When a sample of blood is spin in
a centrifuge machine,
• They separate into the following
constituents: Plasma, buffy coat
and erythrocytes.
PLASMA
• Plasma is a straw-colored clear liquid part of blood.
• It contains 91% to 92% of water and 8% to 9% of solids.
• The solids are the organic and the inorganic substances.

SERUM
• Serum is the clear straw-colored fluid that oozes from blood clot.
• When the blood is shed or collected in a container, it clots. In this
process, the fibrinogen is converted into fibrin and the blood cells are
trapped in this fibrin forming the blood clot.
• After about 45 minutes, serum oozes out of the blood clot.
ERYTHROCYTE\RBC
• Erythrocytes are also called as red blood corpuscles.
• They are circular, biconcave, enucleated cells.
• Its size 7 micron metre in diameter to 2.5 micron metre in thickness.
• There are about 5.1 to 5.8 million RBCs per cu.mm in adult male and
in adult female it is about 4.3 to 5.2 million.
• Average life span is of 120 days.
 LEUCOCYTES\WBCs
• Leucocytes are also known as
white blood corpuscles.They
are colourless, nucleated,
amoeboid, and phagocytes
cells.Due the amoeboidal
movement they squeez out of
blood capillaries, this is called
as DIAPEDESIS.It i of size 8 to
15 micron metre.
• They are about 5000 to 9000
WBCs per cu.mm
• The average life span is of 3 to
4 days.
PLATELETS
These are small fragments of bone marrow cells and therefore not really classified as
cells themselves.
Functions
• Secret vasoconstrictiors
• Form temporary platelet plug to stop bleeding.
• Secret procoagulants to promotes bloodclotting.
• Dissolved blood clots.
• Digest and destroy bacteria.
• Secert some chemicals to attract neutrophil and monocyte to the site of inflammation.
• Secret growth factor to maintain the lining of blood vessel.
FUNCTIONS OF BLOOD
 NUTRITIVE FUNCTION: Nutritive substances like glucose, amino acids, lipids
and vitamins derived from digested food are absorbed from gastrointestinal tract and
carried by blood to different parts of the body for growth and production of energy.
 RESPIRATORY FUNCTION: Transport of respiratory gases is done by the blood.It
carries oxygen from alveoli of lungs to different tissues and carbon dioxide from
tissues to alveoli.
 EXCRETORY FUNCTION: Waste products formed in the tissues during various
metabolic activities are removed by blood and carried to the excretory organs like
kidney, skin, liver, etc. for excretion.
 TRANSPORT OF HORMONES AND ENZYMES: Hormones which are secreted
by ductless (endocrine) glands are released directly into the blood. The blood
transports these hormones to their target organs/tissues. Blood also transports enzymes.
 REGULATION OF WATER BALANCE: Water content of the blood is freely
interchangeable with interstitial fluid. This helps in the regulation of water content
of the body.

 REGULATION OF ACID-BASE BALANCE: Plasma proteins and hemoglobin

act as buffers and help in the regulation of acid-base balance.

 REGULATION OF BODY TEMPERATURE: Because of the high specific

heat of blood, it is responsible for maintaining the thermoregulatory mechanism in
the body, i.e. the balance between heat loss and heat gain in the body.
 STORAGE FUNCTION:
• Water and some important substances like proteins, glucose, sodium and
potassium are constantly required by the tissues.
• Blood serves as a readymade source for these substances. And, these
substances are taken from blood during the conditions like starvation, fluid
loss, electrolyte loss, etc.

 DEFENSIVE FUNCTION
• Blood plays an important role in the defense of the body. The white blood
cells are responsible for this function.
• Neutrophils and monocytes engulf the bacteria by phagocytosis. Lymphocytes
are involved in development of immunity.Eosinophils are responsible for
detoxification, disintegration and removal of foreign proteins
References
I. Arber DA, Orazi A, Hasserjian R, et al. The 2016 revision to the
World Health Organization classification of myeloid neoplasms
and acuteleukemia. Blood. 2016;127(20):2391-2405
II. World Health OrganizationClassification of Tumours of
Haematopoietic and Lymphoid Tissues. Lyon, France: IARC;
2008.
III. Campo E, Swerdlow SH, Harris NL, Pileri S, Stein H, Jaffe ES.
The 2008 WHO classification of lymphoid neoplasms and
beyond: evolving concepts and practical applications. Blood.
2011;117(19):5019-5032.
THANK YOU !!!