Introduction to Hematology

Leture 1+2

Course code: Zool-01704

Course Name: Haematology
Department: Zoology
Presented By: Mr. Nabeel
Tahir
The the
'
 Functions of blood
1. Gas transport – blood carries oxygen from lung to
the tissues and carbon dioxide in reverse direction.

2. Transport of nutritional substances for all cells

(glucose, amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins, ketone bodies,
microelements etc.). Blood carries final products of metabolism
(urea, uric acid, bilirubin, creatinin etc.) from tissues to kidney,
where from they excreted with urine.

3. Regulation of different processes. Blood creates

and
carries local hormones (hormonoids) to the target organs.
 Functions of blood
4. Thermoregulation – heat change between
tissues
and blood.

5. Osmotic function – maintenance of the osmotic

pressure in blood vessels.

6. Protective function – blood has antibodies and

leucocytes, which perform phagocytosis.

7. Detoxification – blood enzymes can

neutralize (split) different toxic substances.
 PROPERTIES OF BLOOD
• 1. Color: Blood is red in color. Arterial blood is scarlet red because it contains more
oxygen and venous blood is purple red because of more carbon dioxide.

• 2. Volume: Average volume of blood in a normal adult is 5 L. In a newborn baby,

the volume is 450 ml. It increases during growth and reaches 5 L at the time of
puberty. In females, it is slightly less and is about 4.5 L. It is about 8% of the body
weight in a normal young healthy adult, weighing about 70 kg.

• 3. Reaction and pH: Blood is slightly alkaline and its pH in normal conditions is
7.4.

• 4. Specific gravity:
• Specific gravity of total blood : 1.052 to 1.061
• Specific gravity blood cells : 1.092 to 1.101
• Specific gravity of plasma : 1.022 to 1.026

• 5. Viscosity: Blood is five times more viscous than water. It is mainly due to red
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Centrifuged Blood Sample

Liquid (plasma)

“Buffy coat” (white blood cells and platelets)

Red blood cells

Peripheral Blood Smear

White blood
cells

Red blood cells

Platelets
 Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Capillary tube

Plasma = 55%

Buffy coat

Red cells = 45%

(hematocrit)

Plug
 Composition
Volume varies with size.
Blood is about 8% of the total body weight.
Average adult has 5 liters of blood
Blood is 40-45% cells
This is also known as the percent packed cell volume
95% are red blood cells, remainder white blood
cells and blood platelets
The hematocrit is an indicator of
anemia, polycythemia, and other conditions.
Blood is 55 -60% plasma
water, amino
acids, proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, vitamins, hor mones,
electrolytes, wastes
 Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Blood

45% 55%

Formed elements Plasma

White blood cells Electrolytes Wastes Nutrients Gases

Platelets Red blood cells Water Proteins
(0.1%)
(4.8%) (95.1%) (92%) (7%) Vitamins

Hormones

Neutrophils Eosinophils Basophils Monocytes Lymphocytes Albumins Globulins Fibrinogen N2 O2 CO2

(54–62%) (1–3%) (<1%) (3–9%) (25–33%)

Composition of Blood
 PLASMA
 CHARACTERISTICS:
1. Straw colored
2. mainly water (92%), plasma
CHONs, nutrients, gases, non-CHON
nitrogen subs, and electrolytes

 FUNCTIONS
1. transport of nutrients, gases and vitamins
2. regulate fluid and electrolyte balance
3. maintain pH
 PLASMA
 PLASMA PROTEINS
1. most abundant dissolved substances in plasma
2. Three main plasma proteins:
a.albumin – 60% of plasma CHONs, made in the
liver and they help to maintain oncotic pressure, and
transport certain molecules such as bilirubin and fatty
acids.
b.globulins – 36% of plasma CHONs
i.alpha and beta – produced in the liver, transport
lipids and fat soluble vitamins
ii. Gamma globulins – made by lymph tissue, a
type
of antibody
c.fibrinogen - 4% of plasma CHONs, made in
 PLASMA

NUTRIENTS AND GASES

1. Nutrients : amino acids, simple sugars, nucleotides
• and lipids
2. Blood gases: oxygen and carbon dioxide
NONPROTEIN NITROGEN SUBSTANCES
1. contain nitrogen but are not proteins
2. include: urea, uric acid, creatine & creatinine
3. CHON digestion  amino acids
4. CHON & nucleic acid catabolism  uric acid & urea
5. creatine metabolism  creatinine
 PLASMA

PLASMA ELECTROLYTES
1. Electrolyte release ions when dissolved
in water
2. include: sodium, potassium, calcium,
magnesium, chloride, bicarbonate,
phosphate and sulfate ions
3. Function:
maintain osmotic pressure and the
pH of the plasma.
 Blood Cells
•Blood
cells originate in red marrow from hemocytoblasts or
hematopoietic stem cells

• Stem cells can then:

• Give rise to more stem cells
• Specialize or differentiate

HEMATOPOIESIS - making of blood cells

ERYTHROPOIESIS - making of RBC
LEUKOPOIESIS - making of WBC
PLURIPOTENTIAL
HEMATOPOIETIC
STEM CELLS
Hematopoiesis
Hematopoiesis
Blood vessel White blood cell
Red blood
cell

platelet

Plasm
a
 Erythrocyte Production
(Erythropoiesis)
 Erythropoiesis is the production of red cells
 Begins with the development of primitive erythrocytes in the
embryonic yolk sac
 Basic substances needed: are amino acids (proteins), iron,
Vit B12, Vit B6, folic acid and the trace minerals cobalt and
nickel
 Regulated by erythropoietin, a glycoprotein primarily produced
by the kidneys in response to tissue hypoxia. (10-15%
production of erythropoietin occurs in the liver)
 Androgen and thyroid hormones can also stimulate
erythropoiesis
 Erythropoiesis cont’d

 Erythroid precursors are derived from the CFU-GEMM

 The earliest progenitor committed exclusively to
erythroid lineage is the burst-forming unit–erythroid
(BFU-E)
 This stage is followed by the colony-forming unit–
erythroid (CFU-E)
 The earliest recognizable RBC precursor is the
proerythroblast, which is characterized by fine
nuclear chromatin and intensely blue cytoplasm
 CFU-S
Erythropoiesis CFU-
I

GEMM
I
BFU-E
I
CFU
-E I
Pronormoblast,
(rubriblast or
proerythroblast)
I
Basophili
c
Normoblast
I
Poly chromatophilic Normoblast
I
Orthochromatophilic Normoblast
I
Reticulocyte
I
 PRODUCTION OF RBC:
 Early embryonic life : nucleated RBC  yolk sac
 Middle trimester: liver main organ for production,
some are produced in the spleen and lymph nodes
 Last month of gestation and after birth:
exclusively produced in the bone marrow
 Bone marrow of essentially all bones produces
RBCs until 5 years old
 Bone marrow of the long bones, except proximal portions of
the humeri and tibiae no RBCs after 20 yrs old
 >20 yo membranous bones , like vertebrae, sternum,
ribs, ilia  less productive as age increases.
GENESIS OF RBC
 FUNCTIONS OF RBC
To transport Hemoglobin, which carries oxygen
from the lungs to the tissues
As an enzyme that catalyzes the reversible reaction
between carbon dioxide (CO2) and water to form
carbonic acid (H2CO3) carbonic anhydrase
As an excellent acid-base buffer
 Characteristics of Red Blood
Cells
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Top view

Red blood cells are:

•Erythrocytes 7.8 micrometers

• Biconcave discs
•Able to readily squeeze
through capillaries
2.5 micrometers

• Lack nuclei and mitochondria (a)

Sectional view

•average volume: 90 -95 cubic

micrometers
•Normal men: 5,200,00 cubic mm
•Normal women: 4,700,00 cubic
mm
(b)
 RED BLOOD CELLS
Concentrate Hemoglobin (Hgb) in the cell fluid:
34 grams in each 100 milliliters of cells
Hematocrit ( % of blood that is cells – normally , 40- 45%) and the
quantity of Hgb
 men : 15 grams of Hgb/100ml of cells
 women: 14 grams Hgb/100ml of cells
Each gram of pure Hgb  1.34 ml of Oxygen
Normal man: 20ml of O2/100ml of blood
Normal woman: 19 ml of O2/100 ml of blood
 HEMOGLOBIN
• The main function of red blood cell
• Transfer of O2 from lungs to tissue
• Transfer of CO2 from tissue to lungs

• To accomplish this function red cells has

haemoglobin (Hb)

• Each red cell has 640 million molecules

of Hb
 HEMOGLOBIN
• Haemoglobin (Hb), protein constituting 1/3 of
the red blood cells

• Synthesis begins in proerythroblast

• 65% at erythroblast stage
• 35% at reticulocyte stage

• Two parts
• Haem
• Globin
 Synthesis of Haemoglobin
(Hb)
• Haem & globin produced at two
different sites in the cells

• Haem in mitochondria
• Globin in polyribosomes
Structure of globin

• Each molecule of normal

adult haemoglobin (Hb-
A) consists of four polypeptide
chains a2b2, each with its own
haem group. Each α-chain
contain 141 aa while ß chain
contains 146 aa.
Structure of Heme
• The characteristic red color of
Hb is due to heam.
• At the core of the molecule is
porphyrin ring which holds an
iron atom.
• An iron containing porphyrin is
termed a heme.
• This iron atom is the site of
oxygen binding.
 HEME SYNTHESIS

8
Succinyl
CoA

8 Glycine*
*

Heme

** Amino acid (building blocks of protein) synthesized in your

Synthesis of Haemoglobin
 Types of Hemoglobin
Type Formula
HbA (95-98%) α2β2
HbA2 (2-3%) α2δ2
HbF (upto 2.5%) α2γ2

 HbF have more affinity to oxygen than HbA.

 Hemoglobin molecule compose of 4 hemoglobin chains
 There are four different chains of hemoglobin
(alpha, beta, gamma and delta chain)
 Hemoglobin A is a combination of two alpha and two beta
chain
 Note the 4 protein chains
that make up 1 molecule
of Hb.

Note that, in muscle,

myoglobin (Mb) binds
oxygen. Mb consis of only 1
protein chain.

Fig. 14.8
THANK YOU!