MYP3 Biology Notes: Blood Clotting

Blood clotting
When an injury causes a blood vessel wall to break, platelets are activated.
They change shape from round to spiny, stick to the broken vessel wall and
each other, and begin to plug the break.

The platelets also interact with fibrinogen, a soluble plasma protein, to

form insoluble fibrin. Calcium is required for that.

Fibrin strands form a net that entraps more platelets and other blood cells (red
cells and white cells), producing a clot that plugs the break.

Middle Years Programme | Indus International School, Pune | 2023-24

Necessity for blood clotting

 Prevent excessive blood loss from the body when there is a damage of the
blood vessel.
 Maintain the blood pressure.
 Prevent the entry of microorganism and foreign particles into the body.
 Promote wound healing.

How does blood clotting work?

When the lining of a capillary is broken, platelets initially stick to the site of
damage. They then trigger a series of reactions in the blood plasma that causes
a clot to form. The details of how this works are too complicated to go into here
but the basic idea is that in the blood plasma are a whole family of proteins
called clotting factors. There is a cascade of reactions such that one clotting
factor is activated and in turn, activates the next in the sequence. The final
reaction in the clotting cascade is that a soluble protein called fibrinogen is
converted into an insoluble fibrous protein called fibrin. Fibrin forms a mesh
around the platelet cap covering the site of damage and this mesh traps red
blood cells forming the final clot.

Middle Years Programme | Indus International School, Pune | 2023-24

Important Links- For the animations used in Class
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqo3PDHR924
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gExUCrpAKyQ&t=109s

Bibliography
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides
https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/heart-disease.html

Middle Years Programme | Indus International School, Pune | 2023-24