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Components of Blood
What is the main function of blood?
-transporting nearly everything in
the body
Component of Blood
White Blood Cells
(Leukocytes)
colorless, irregular shape,
made & stored in bone
marrow, have a nucleus,
able to squeeze out of
blood vessels and into the
lymphatic system
Function(s)
 defend the body from bacteria,
viruses, etc. by moving towards
the area of infection
 macrophages: WBC’s that cleanup dead cells, engulf foreign cells
 make blood clots
 help repair damaged blood vessels
Platelets (thrombocytes)
formed in bone marrow;
irregular shape; fragments
of WBC’s
Red Blood Cells
(erythrocytes)
no nucleus; a disc with a
pinched-in center; made in
bone marrow
 carry oxygen from lungs to cells
 carry carbon dioxide from cells
back to the lungs
 more abundant than WBC’s
hemoglobin: a protein with iron
that binds oxygen, makes blood red
 makes blood liquid
 protein-rich
 mostly water (90% water, 10%
other materials)
Plasma