Objective 54: How erythropoietin regulates red blood cell,production

How I learned about this objective was from my textbook.  It has about three paragraphs laying out what erythropoietin is and does.  Erythropoietin has its primary effect on red blood cells by promoting red blood cell survival through protecting these cells from apoptosis.  Under hypoxic conditions, the kidney will produce and secrete erythropoietin to increase the production of red blood cells.  Erythropoietin stimulates the bone marrow to produce more red blood cells. A rise in red cells increases the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood.  As the main source of red blood cell production, EPO’s major functions are to:
Promote the development of red blood cells.  Also to initiate the synthesis of hemoglobin, the molecule within red cells that transports oxygen.  This diagram from my textbook was a great tool for me to accomplish this objective.

Objective 20: Structure, Function, Life cycle, and Production of Erythrocytes and Leukocytes

ERYTHROCYTES
Erythrocytes (RBC) are small biconcave discs with depressed centers.  I think of a doughnut everytime I see a RBC.  I have learned that a mature RBC does not have a nucleus.  Guess that is why it has an identation in the center of it.  Young RBC are bumpy and does have a nucleus but as it matures the nucleus gets pushed out.  I knew that blood had a function of transporting carbon dioxide and oxygen but did not realize that hemoglobin had such a factor in it for some reason.


Leukocytes
My textbook has taught me about leukocytes because there is a chart on pg. 562 (which is below this paragraph) that lists and describes their structure, function,  and life cycle.  So it was easy to memorize how it look and its function etc. The leukocytes (WBC), are of two types; granulocytes, and agranulocytes.  The trick for me memorizing  the leukocytes was that the granulocytes ended with -phil and the agranulocytes ended with -cyte.  All are involved in defending the body against foreign organisms. The three types of granulocytes: neutrophils, eosinophils, and basophils, with neutrophils the most abundant. Neutrophils seek out bacteria and eat them up.

Objective 55: Trace the path of blood flow through the kidneys

Using this diagram helped me to learn the path of blood flow through the kidneys because to me it is straight and to the point.  As you can see the arrows point to the path.  I do not know what else to say cause the proof is in the pudding.  Only thing I had to do was try and memorize mainly the arteries and veins in an acronym.

Objective 21: ABO blood types and their importance in blood transfusion

For me I really do not understand the whole ABO blood type situation because in class there was a whole lot of going in one ear and out the other but the little bit of information I did absorb was from my sister who is an RN.  The chart above is a good visual aid.  Honestly, though if you put a blood sample in front of me I could not tell you anything about it.  Maybe the Rh but that is about it.  I did learn that if the blood clumps its Rh is positive if it does nit it is negative.  I learned that from a lab we did.  I do hope that it right and not vice versa.

Objective 16: Path of blood flow through out the chambers of the heart and through pulmonary and systemic circulations

I used the book and Figure 17.5 to follow the flow of blood through the systemic and pulmonary circuits.  Upon reading the book I learned that he the pulmonary circulation functions to get rid of the waste product carbon dioxide from the blood and to saturate the blood with oxygen.  Also that the systemic circulation functions to deliver oxygenated blood and remove the waste products from all of the tissues in the body.  The figure was a great tool for my understanding of the blood flow and its directions.  I like the arrows showing where it goes through.

Objective 22: Blood Clotting Process

To understand the blood clotting process I had to use my book.  The book seems like it was the only source that spelled out the process the best to me.  There are three steps to the blood clotting process aka hemostasis.  First I learned about vascular spasm, which is the immediate response to a blood vessel injury.  What it does is start constricting.  The constriction of the artery can significantly reduce blood loss for up to 30 minutes, allowing the platelets to do what they need to do and then the blood clot aka coagulation to occur.  This figure in the book really helped me out.  I jumped ahead to the other steps which are platelet plug formation and then coagulation.

Objective 17,18,&19: Functions, Components and Physical characteristics of Blooooooood

I knew of possibly just the distribution functions of blood.  Which are delivering O2 from the lungs and nutrients from the digestive tract to the rest of the body's cells.  Also moving metabolic waste products from cells to elimination sites. Last but not least moving hormones through the bloodstream to their target organs.  Now I am being honest about not knowing the regulating functions which are maintaining the right body temp by absorbing and distributing heat all through the body.  Maintaining normal pH in body tissues, well I actually knew this function also. Maintaining good fluid volume in the circulatory system.  I also did not know or even think to know that blood had protective functions/qualities which are preventing blood loss and preventing infection.



Concerning the major components of blood I knew blood had alot of plasma and of course a good bit of erythrocytes(red blood cells) because blood is red. But for some reason I was shock to learn that leukocytes and platelets was so miniscule in blood.  Plasma makes up 55%, Erythrocytes 45%, and Leukocytes and platelets makes up less than 1% of blood.  Here is a pic detailing the components of blood that really helped.

If a person on this earth told me they have never bled a day in their life I would slap the hell out of them.  So for me making that statement everyone who has every lived on this earth should of bled out at least one time in their life and should know how blood looks and possibly tastes.  I have learned that oxygen has alot to do with how dark or light blood looks.  Scarlet colored blood means you have oxygen rich blood and dark red colored blood means you have oxygen poor blood.  Physical characteristics of blood is that it is sticky and much more dense than water.