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What are Red Blood Cells?

Red blood cells, or erythrocytes are the most common type of blood cell and the vertebrate organism's principal means of delivering oxygen (O2) to the body tissues via the blood flow through the circulatory system. They take up oxygen in the lungs or gills and release it while squeezing through the body's capillaries.

These cells' cytoplasm is rich in hemoglobin, an iron-containing biomolecule that can bind oxygen and is responsible for the blood's red color.

In humans, mature red blood cells are flexible biconcave disks that lack a cell nucleus and most organelles. 2.4 million new erythrocytes are produced per second.The cells develop in the bone marrow and circulate for about 100–120 days in the body before their components are recycled by macrophages. Each circulation takes about 20 seconds. Approximately a quarter of the cells in the human body are red blood cells.

Red blood cells are also known as RBCs, red blood corpuscles, haematids, erythroid cells or erythrocytes. The capitalized term Red Blood Cells is the proper name in the US for erythrocytes in storage solution used in transfusion medicine.

Human erythrocytes are produced through a process named erythropoiesis, developing from committed stem cells to mature erythrocytes in about 7 days. When matured, these cells live in blood circulation for about 100 to 120 days. At the end of their lifespan, they become senescent, and are removed from circulation.

Information obtained from the Wikipedia web site. Wikipedia the free encyclopedia.

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