When you accidentally cut your finger, you see bright red, thick liquid flowing out. Because it is so intensely red, most people assume blood is entirely made of red cells. However, this is biologically incorrect.
If you take a test tube of blood and completely remove all the solid cells (the red corpuscles, white corpuscles, and platelets), you are left with a pale, yellowish, watery liquid. The fluid part of the blood is called Plasma.
Name of the fluid: Blood Plasma.
Appearance: A pale, yellowish, slightly sticky liquid.
Volume: Makes up 55% of total blood volume.
Composition: 90% water, 10% dissolved proteins, glucose, and hormones.
Serum: Plasma minus the blood-clotting proteins.
Blood Plasma is the massive river that carries everything else around the body. In fact, Plasma makes up about 55% of the total volume of your blood. Because it has to flow easily through tiny capillaries, Plasma is made up of 90% to 92% pure water. The remaining 8-10% is packed with dissolved proteins, salts, hormones, and nutrients.
While the Red Blood Cells (RBCs) have one single job (carrying oxygen), the fluid Plasma does almost everything else:
A common question in advanced biology exams is the difference between Plasma and Serum. Plasma contains crucial proteins called 'fibrinogens' that help the blood clot and form a scab when you get a cut. If you take Plasma and completely remove these clotting proteins from it, the remaining clear liquid is called Serum.
After completely removing the solid red and white blood cells (corpuscles), the remaining yellowish fluid part is called Blood Plasma.
The main component of blood plasma is pure water, which makes up over 90% of its volume, allowing it to flow easily through veins.
No. Oxygen is carried almost exclusively by the Red Blood Cells. Plasma primarily carries dissolved nutrients, hormones, and waste products like carbon dioxide.
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