Blood

The average adult male and pregnant females have 6 liters of blood, the average non pregnant female has 5 liters. Blood consists of Red Blood Cells(RBC), White Blood Cells(WBC), and Platelets. RBC’s transport oxygen atoms. The cycle of a RBC is 90-120 days. There are 5 categories of White Blood cells (WBC) aka Leukocytes: Neutrophils whose function is phagocytosis, make up 60-70% of all WBC’s, lymphocytes whose function mediate immune response make up 20-25% of all WBC’s, monocytes function is macrophage, they make up 3-8% of all WBC’s, eosinophils function is the combat the effects of histamine in allergic reactions and destroy certain parasitic worms they make up 2-4% of all WBC’s, and basophils which liberate heparin, histamine, and serotonin in allergic reactions, they make up .5-1% of all WBC’s. The WBC’s that end in -phil have granules in the cytoplasma, these granules are histamine. WBC’s that end in -cytes do not have granules. Platelets are cell fragments that live for 5-9days and they release chemicals that promote blood clotting. RBC’s and platelets do not have a nucleus, WBC’s have nucleus which may be multilobed, bilobed, round or kidney shaped.
Blood tests are used to determine how organs with in the body are functioning. Diabetes is monitored by the levels of glucose in the blood. I think of the bloodstream as a super highway in the human blood. This superhighway is transporting the gases essential to live, and it transports nutrients needed to sustain homeostasis.