Our blood carries oxygen, nutrients (sugar, mineral salts, vitamins, etc.) but also hormones essential for the life of our cells. Pulsed by the heart in the arteries and veins, it is essential for the proper functioning of our organs: the brain, muscles, bones …

Platelets, red blood cells and white blood cells

“Whole blood is made up of two large parts: plasma, made up of different proteins, mineral salts and water. The rest are red blood cells,” explains Brigitte Cohen, medical biologist.

You have about 5 million red blood cells per milliliter of blood. Red blood cells, made up of red blood cells, will circulate throughout the body and carry oxygen from the lungs to the heart and to the various organs of our body. There are also white blood cells and platelets. Leukocytes, or white blood cells, are our body’s defenses.

Platelets are involved in blood clotting. They intervene like little soldiers who will form a clot as quickly as possible so that they can heal as quickly as possible. “

Do we all have the same blood?

In terms of ingredients, everyone has the same blood, but there is still one element that makes everyone different, and that is the blood group. There are blood groups A, B, AB, O…. positive or negative.

This blood group is inherited and defined by a chemical reaction between antigens on the surface of red blood cells and antibodies present in the plasma.

Where is the blood made?

There are no less than 350 billion blood cells designed every day. The manufacturing plant is therefore operating at a breakneck pace.

“Blood cells are made in the bone marrow. It’s an organ that’s inside, in the middle of each of our bones. explains it to us Pr Corinne Pondarré, pediatrician hematologist, CHI de Créteil.

First, there are very specific cells which are the stem cells of the bone marrow. They have super powers since they are able to multiply very very quickly, exponentially and produce billions of globules every day. Whether red blood cells, white blood cells or platelets.

All the bones are very vascularized, that is to say that from each bone there are already many small vessels leaving which are connected to larger vessels, which will eventually reach the heart. “

The heart: the blood pump

The heart pumps blood, which passes through our body in the arteries to oxygenate and nourish the organs. It then returns to the lungs via the veins, to re-oxygenate itself as an uninterrupted phenomenon …

Without blood, there is no possible life!