Red Blood Cells

Question 1

what capability do stem cells have?

Answer 1

self renewal

Question 2

how does red blood cell production begin?

Answer 2

stem cells create burst forming units and then colony forming units

Question 3

how are erythroblasts formed?

Answer 3

proerythroblats are formed which shrink through cell divisions into erythroblasts

Question 4

what is erythropoeisis regulated by?

Answer 4

EPO

Question 5

how are reticulocytes formed?

Answer 5

the proerythrocytes eject their nuclei and differentiate into reticulocytes

Question 6

what can reticulocytes do to form a blood cell?

Answer 6

digest their redundant organelles, pass into the blood and differentiate into red blood cells

Question 7

how long do erythrocytes live for?

Answer 7

about 1 day

Question 8

what things are indicated by a raised reticulocyte level?

Answer 8

haemolytic anaemia and following blood loss

Question 9

what is haemolytic anaemia?

Answer 9

red blood cells are destroyed faster than they were made

Question 10

why does it increase following blood loss?

Answer 10

more red blood cells being made to make up for the loss

Question 11

what is hypoxia?

Answer 11

a deficiency in the amount of oxygen reaching the tissues

Question 12

what does hypoxia stimulate?

Answer 12

erythropoiesis

Question 13

what happens to the globin after red cell death?

Answer 13

converted into amino acids and resused in protein synthesis

Question 14

what happens to the haem after red cell death?

Answer 14

broken into iron and biliverdin

Question 15

where does the iron go that comes from the haem?

Answer 15

transported via transferrin for storage in the liver and later to the bone marrow for erythropoiesis

Question 16

what happens to the biliverdin?

Answer 16

further processed and excreted in bile

Question 17

what are the 3 distinctive features of erythrocytes?

Answer 17

uncomplicated cell membrane, lack of a nucleus or organelles and membranes carry antigens

Question 18

what does an uncomplicated cell membrane cause?

Answer 18

simple passage of oxygen yet fragile and easily damaged

Question 19

what does lack of nucleus allow?

Answer 19

flexibility to penetrate capillaries yet cannot make protective enzymes

Question 20

what does the surface antigens on the blood cells allow?

Answer 20

resistance to some diseases yet complicates transfusion

Question 21

what do all of the features provide to the blood cell?

Answer 21

highly specialised but have a short life span of 120 days

Question 22

what is haemoglobin?

Answer 22

iron containing protein specialised to pick up oxygen and release it at different concentrations

Question 23

what makes haemoglobin soluble?

Answer 23

the 4 polypeptide chains are coiled up so that the hydrophilic R groups are o the outside of the molecule and bind to the H20

Question 24

how is haemoglobin able to bind to oxygen?

Answer 24

haem group contains an iron ion for oxygen to bind to

Question 25

how many haem groups are their in a haemoglobin molecule?

Answer 25

4

Question 26

how is the shape of haemoglobin related to its function?

Answer 26

able to pick up and drop off oxygen, shape changes after the 1st molecule binds

Question 27

what is ferritin?

Answer 27

an intracellular protein that stores iron

Question 28

what does low ferritin indicate?

Answer 28

iron deficiency anaemia as demand for iron is higher than the amount of ferritin available

Question 29

how does ferritin increase the production of red blood cells?

Answer 29

stored in bodys cells and stimulated when cell levels are low, then binds to transferrin and transported to the bone marrow to make more

Question 30

what are the anaemia symptoms in the eyes?

Answer 30

yellowing

Question 31

what are the anaemia symptoms in the CNS?

Answer 31

fatigue, dizziness, fainting

Question 32

what is the anaemia symptoms in the skin?

Answer 32

paleness, coldness, yellowing

Question 33

what is the anaemia symptoms in the heart?

Answer 33

palpitations, rapid heart rate, chest pain, angina, heart attack

Question 34

what are the repercussions of anemaia?

Answer 34

tired all the time, decreased IQ in children, failure to breastfeed, risk of heart attack

Question 35

what things cause difference in symptom presentation?

Answer 35

speed of onset, severity, age

Question 36

how does speed of onset effect anaemia symptoms?

Answer 36

rapidly progressive anaemia causes more symptoms as less time for adaptation

Question 37

how does age affect anaemia symptoms?

Answer 37

the elderly tolerate anaemia much less due to having a weak CV system

Question 38

how does spectrometry work?

Answer 38

the red blood cells are made into a soup and the density of the solution is proportional to the haemaglobin level

Question 39

what is impendance?

Answer 39

red blood cells pass through a pore, this impends the electricity passing through which is proportional to its size

Question 40

how do you calculate the mean cell haemoglobin concentration?

Answer 40

haemoglobin divided by the MCVxRBCCx100

Question 41

what is poikilocytosis?

Answer 41

varied shaped red blood cells caused by a lack of B12

Question 42

what is echinocytes?

Answer 42

red blood cells with projections on the cell membrane

Question 43

how are echinocytes caused?

Answer 43

prolonged storage in anticoagulant

Question 44

what are schistocytes?

Answer 44

irregularly shaped red blood cells

Question 45

what caused schistocytes?

Answer 45

mechanical destruction of red blood cells e.g. mechanical heart valves

Question 46

what is spherocytosis?

Answer 46

presence of spherical red blood cells

Question 47

how can spherocytosis be caused?

Answer 47

transfusion reactions

Question 48

what indicated an abnormaility in the bone marrow?

Answer 48

erythropoiesis occuring in the peripheral blood

Question 49

what is a type of hyperchromic anaemia?

Answer 49

iron deficiency anaemia

Question 50

what is macrocytic anaemia?

Answer 50

lack of B12 which is needed for heam synthesis

Question 51

what is folate used for?

Answer 51

aid in turning thmidylate into thymine in DNA replication

Question 52

what does a lack in folate cause?

Answer 52

incomplete DNA replication so ineffective haemopoiesis

Question 53

what are haemoglobinopathies?

Answer 53

genetic disorders of heamoglobin as they cause altered structure or loss of

Question 54

what are two examples of haemaglobinopathies?

Answer 54

sickle cell disease or thalassaemias

Question 55

what is alpha thalassaemia?

Answer 55

the loss of one or two of the alpha chain genes

Question 56

what is beta thalassaemia?

Answer 56

no or small amounts of beta chains are made

Question 57

what is the defintion of massive haemorrhage?

Answer 57

loss of more than one blood volume in 24 hours