The Blood

 

Blood Vessels. There are 3 types of blood vessels that you need to know and they are all shown in this table:

 

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What is blood?

 

Blood is liquid plasma that carries red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets in suspension. It is a specialised tissue.

 

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What do the different components of blood do?

 

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We need to know about the adaptations of the different blood cells:

 

1. Red Blood Cell Adaptations  

• Packed with haemoglobin → binds oxygen  

• Biconcave disc shape → increases surface area for faster diffusion  

• No nucleus → more room for haemoglobin  

• Flexible → squeezes through narrow capillaries

 

   2. White Blood Cell Adaptations  

• Contain digestive enzymes to break down pathogens  

• Flexible shape → squeezes out of blood vessels to infection sites  

• Produce antibodies to tag pathogens for destruction  

• Release antitoxins to neutralise bacterial toxins