Hematology is the study of blood and the circulatory system. Blood performs vital functions in the body including transport, regulation, and protection. It transports gases, nutrients, hormones, waste products, and more through over 100,000 km of blood vessels to trillions of cells. Blood also regulates temperature, pH balance, and water content in cells. It protects the body from diseases and infection by carrying white blood cells and antibodies, and from blood loss through clotting. Blood is composed of plasma and formed elements including red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.
Hematology is the study of blood and the circulatory system. Blood performs vital functions in the body including transport, regulation, and protection. It transports gases, nutrients, hormones, waste products, and more through over 100,000 km of blood vessels to trillions of cells. Blood also regulates temperature, pH balance, and water content in cells. It protects the body from diseases and infection by carrying white blood cells and antibodies, and from blood loss through clotting. Blood is composed of plasma and formed elements including red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.
Hematology is the study of blood and the circulatory system. Blood performs vital functions in the body including transport, regulation, and protection. It transports gases, nutrients, hormones, waste products, and more through over 100,000 km of blood vessels to trillions of cells. Blood also regulates temperature, pH balance, and water content in cells. It protects the body from diseases and infection by carrying white blood cells and antibodies, and from blood loss through clotting. Blood is composed of plasma and formed elements including red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.
of). Hematology is the branch of medical science that
deals with the study of blood. Blood, along with the cardiovascular system constitutes the Circulatory system and performs the following functions: 1. Transport. Blood provides a pickup and delivery system for the transport of gases, nutrients, hormones, waste products, etc. over a route of some 1,12,000 km of blood vessels, with 60–70 trillion customers (cells). 2. Regulation. It regulates the body temperature by transporting heat from the tissues (mainly liver and muscles) to the skin from where it can be lost. Its buffers regulate pH of the body fluids, while its osmotic pressure regulates water content of cells through the actions of its dissolved proteins and ions. 3. Protection. The blood protects the body against diseases caused by harmful organisms by transporting leukocytes and antibodies against more than a million foreign invaders. It also protects the body against loss of blood after injury by the process of blood clotting. Physical features. The blood is denser and more viscous than water, slightly alkaline, sticky to touch, and salty in taste. It clots on standing, leaving behind serum. The normal total circulating blood volume amounts to 8% of the body weight, i.e. 5–6 liters in an average adult male weighing 70kg, and 4–5 liters in a female. The interplay of various hormones that control salt and water excretion in the urine keep the blood volume remarkably constant. Composition. Blood consists of 55% of watery liquid plasma that contains various proteins and other solutes dissolved in it. The rest 45% is the formed elements— mainly the red blood cells (RBCs) but also white blood cells (WBCs), and platelets (cell fragments). The RBCs are the most numerous (4.5–5.5 million/mm3) and are medium sized (7–8 µm). Next in number are platelets (2.5–4.5 lacs/mm3) and are the smallest (2–4 µm) in size. The WBCs number 4000–11000/mm3 and vary in size from 8 to 20 µm. The percentage of whole blood that is red cells is called hematocrit, its value being 45