Sean Munroe

3/25/15
Period 8
Finally, the Spleen Gets Some Respect
Article Questions
1. The spleen has a so-called non capillary circulatory system. This is because, in contrast
to other organs, as blood flows into the spleen it is dumped into puddle like sinusoids, and to get
back out it must squeeze between cells. The dumping and squeezing helps to filter out bloodborne parasites, aging blood cells to brittle for compression, and the oxidized pellets in which
RBCs are often pocketed named BBs.
2. The spleen has been called a recycling center. This is because iron and other components
are plucked out of the cells and used to stock new hemoglobin cages.
3. After a heart attack, monocytes are very important in the removing of dead muscle,
rebuilding stable scar tissue, and stimulation of a new generation of blood vessels. They really are
the major repair workers after a heart attack. The mass amount of monocytes produced puzzled
researchers and scientists because they could not find where they were all coming from. After
many hypothesi, the scientists found out that the spleen was a major hangout place for the
monocytes. The number of monocytes in the spleen is 10 times higher than that of the blood
stream explained Doctor Nahrendorf. The scientists reckoned that the monocytes were born in
the bone marrow like all other blood cells, and then at some point migrated to the spleen because
of an unknown attraction/signal/cue.