1. The River of Life

2. Blood-Did You Know… Blood is the only tissue that is a liquid.
An average adult has approximately 4.7 L (5 quarts) of blood.
Blood comprises about 8% of a person’s total body weight.
Blood travels 60,000 mi (96,540 Km) per day in your body.
15 million blood cells die every day and have to be replaced.

3. What is the Composition of Blood?
Blood is about 78% liquid and 22% solids
Four Major Components of Blood
Plasma
Red Blood Cells (RBC)
White Blood Cells (WBC)
Platelets

4. Blood Plasma—The Liquid of Life
It is the LIQUID of the blood that suspends the blood cells
Composition:
90% water
Ionic salts (electrolytes)
Soluble proteins
Functions:
Helps maintain homeostatic balance
Allows for the correct function of muscles and nerves
Transports soluble substances
Carries factors needed for blood clotting

5. Plasma Transports: Nutrients Electrolytes Hormones Antibodies
Clotting factors
Metabolic wastes
Dissolved Gases:
oxygen and carbon dioxide

6. Red Blood Cells (Erythrocytes)
Carry Oxygen and Nutrients!
Most abundant blood cell
5.2 billion RBC per mL of blood
Mature cells lack a nucleus
Average Lifespan: 120 Days

7. Red Blood Cell Facts Can be frozen for ten years
Hemoglobin makes up 33% of cell mass
Primary function is to transport oxygen
Help remove carbon dioxide
Produced in bone marrow
Travel single file through capillaries

8. White Blood Cells (Leukocytes)
Types
Monocyte
Neutrophil
Lymphocyte
Basophil
Eosinophil

9. White Blood Cell Facts Protect us against infection!
Largest of the blood cells
Normally 5000 to 10,000 WBC per mL blood
Variable life span – from a few days to years
Produced in bone marrow
Part of the immune system
Increase in number when infection or inflammation is present

10. White Blood Cells—Functions
Monocytes and Neutrophils:
Destroy bacteria and other foreign materials
Signal other immune cells that foreign material is inside body
Lymphocytes:
Destroy abnormal cells
Produce antibodies
Moderate immune response

11. White Blood Cells—Functions
Eosinophils
Kill multicellular parasites (e.g. blood fluke)
Basophils
Can destroy foreign material
Involved in inflammation response
Involved in development of allergies

12. Platelets (Thrombocytes)
Help to stop bleeding and heal wounds
Formed in bone marrow
Not cells, are fragments of precursor cells
Lifespan—10 Days
Help blood clot by forming “platelet plugs.”
Stimulate other clotting factors
Approximately 250,000 per mL of blood

13. Simulated Blood Smear Used with permission of Ken Hoge

15. According to the CDC: It is estimated that SDC:
Affects 90,000 to 100,000 Americans.
About 1 out of every 500 African-American births.
About 1 out of every 36,000 Hispanic-American births.
Occurs among about 1 in 12 African Americans.

16. Blood’s Components
Plasma
Platelets
White Blood Cells
Red Blood Cells

17. Carry Oxygen and Nutrients
Red Blood Cells
Carry Oxygen and Nutrients

18. Hemoglobin It is the primary component of Red Blood Cells.
It is a protein that binds to oxygen.
It is composed of 4 Sub-Units.
Each Sub-Unit carries one oxygen molecule.
People with Sickle Cell have abnormal hemoglobin.

19. Sickle Cell Disease
Production of abnormal hemoglobin within the Red Blood Cells.
Life-Long condition with no known cure.

20. Symptoms When Sickling Occurs Signs and Symptoms are:
Paleness in face (Pallor)
Fatigue
Jaundice (Yellow Tint to Skin)
Irritability
Pain

21. Complications Stroke Heart Attack Blindness Ulcers Anemia
Death can occur when additional issues complicate the disease, such as;
Infection
Meningitis

22. Why Does It Hurt??
Sickled Cells do not carry the oxygen that your body needs.
Sickled Cells can accumulate in small blood vessels and lead to tissue death.

23. Prevention and Treatment
Avoid Over Exercising
Keep Hydrated
Avoid High Altitudes
Blood Transfusions with healthy Red Blood Cells.
*Hydroxyurea- a Chemotherapy medication that changes red blood cells so that they are less likely to bend in an abnormal shape.

24. Who Gets It?
Sickle Cell Disease is an inherited, autosomal recessive disorder.
There are 3 sub-types of Sickle Cell Disease
(Sickle Cell Anemia, Sickle Cell Thalassemia, and Sickle Cell Hemoglobin C Disease)
Tends to occur in persons with origins in the equatorial countries; Central Africa, Mediterranean area, and part of India.

25. In The United States
In the United States, Sickle Cell Disease is most common in the African American population.
Over 72,000 people in the United States have sickle cell disease.

27. How Do You Get It? Sickle Cell is a Recessive disorder.
Trait (Carrier): Only one parent had the gene (No symptoms of the disorder)
Child has one normal gene and one sickle cell gene
Disease: Both parents had recessive gene
1 in 4 chance child will have Sickle Cell Disease

29. Review Of Concepts
1. Cells need oxygen in order to function properly, and the hemoglobin protein in red blood cells transports oxygen to the cells.
2. People with deformed hemoglobin experience a variety of health issues.

30. Concepts Continued
3. Changes to the structure of a protein can change its ability to function properly.
4. The incidence of a particular disease varies between different countries.