Blood plasma is the straw-colored/pale-yellow liquid component of blood that normally holds the blood cells in whole blood in suspension. It makes up about 55% of total blood volume. It is the intravascular fluid part of extracellular fluid (all body fluid outside of cells). It is mostly water (93% by volume), and contains dissolved proteins (i.e.—albumins, globulins, and fibrinogen), glucose, clotting factors, electrolytes (Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+, HCO3- Cl- etc.), hormones and carbon dioxide (plasma being the main medium for excretory product transportation). Plasma also serves as the protein reserve of the human body. It plays a vital role in intravascular osmotic effect that keeps electrolyte in balance form and protects the body from infection and other blood disorders.
Blood plasma is prepared by spinning a tube of fresh blood containing an anticoagulant in a centrifuge until the blood cells fall to the bottom of the tube. The blood plasma is then poured or drawn off. Blood plasma has a density of approximately 1025 kg/m3, or 1.025 kg/l.
Blood serum is blood plasma without clotting factors (i.e.—whole blood minus both the cells and the clotting factors). Plasmapheresis is a medical therapy that involves blood plasma extraction, treatment, and reintegration.
Read more about Blood Plasma: Composition, Plasma Shift, Medical History, Plasma Donation, Safety and Compensation To Donors, Synthetic Blood Plasma
Famous quotes containing the word blood:
“In man, the shedding of blood is always associated with injury, disease, or death. Only the female half of humanity was seen to have the magical ability to bleed profusely and still rise phoenix-like each month from the gore.”
—Estelle R. Ramey (b. 1917)