Types of Blood Cells

Photo of Nathan taken by Dr. Haus

The Three Types of Blood Cells:  White Blood Cells, Red Blood Cells, and Platelets

 

🤍White Blood Cells🤍

White blood cells are the cells that protect the body from infectious pathogens and remove foreign materials from the body.  White blood cells are also called leukocytes. 

An infectious pathogen is a microscopic organism that causes disease.  Some examples of infectious pathogens are bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites.  When the white blood cells detect something in the body that is foreign (unrecognizable), it will jump into action to destroy the foreign material and remove it from the body.

 

Types of White Blood Cells

1.  Monocyte/Macrophage - Monocytes are in the bloodstream and once a monocyte leaves the bloodstream it is called a macrophage.

Monocytes and macrophages phagocytose foreign materials in the body.  Phagocytosis is the process where a cell eats and digests the foreign material.  I like to think of phagocytosis like Pac-Man eating and destroying the tiny dots.

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2.  Lymphocyte - Lymphocytes are broke down into two cell types:  B-cells (B-lymphocytes) and T-cells (T-lymphocytes). 

B-cells produce antibodies to protect the body from infectious pathogens.

T-cells assist in the destruction of infectious pathogens.

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3.  Neutrophil - Neutrophils are the first responding phagocytic cells.  The neutrophils arrive first at a site of injury to eat all of the foreign material and cellular debris.  The neutrophils are like the garbage and recycling system in the site of an injury.

There are two important types of neutrophils...

Segmented neutrophils (sometimes called segs, not to be confused with seggs) are mature neutrophils.

Band neutrophils (sometimes called bands) are immature neutrophils.   

 

ALL BLOOD CELLS ARE PRODUCED IN THE BONE MARROW 

 

What makes band and segmented neutrophils important is that the bone marrow will only release segmented neutrophils UNLESS there is a severe need for neutrophils and all the segmented neutrophils have been used up.  The bone marrow is located in the middle of the long bones of the body.

In situations where there is a severe infection and all the segmented neutrophils have been released and used up, the bone marrow will release the band neutrophils because it is better to have immature neutrophils that can do some phagocytosis rather than having nothing to fight the infection.

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4.  Eosinophil - Eosinophils are the cells that respond to allergic reactions and parasitic infections.

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5.  Basophil -  Basophils are a rare cell type that responds to parasitic infections.

 

Photo by Dr. Haus

🩸Red Blood Cells🩸

Red blood cells are the cells that carry oxygen to the entire body.  Each and every cell in the body needs oxygen to survive and red blood cells bring oxygen to them.  Red blood cells are also called erythrocytes.

Reticulocytes are the immature form of red blood cells that sit in the bone marrow until they mature into the mature erythrocytes (remember, all blood cells are produced in the bone marrow).  

The bone marrow will not release a reticulocyte into the bloodstream unless the body has run out of mature red blood cells.  In situations of extreme red blood cell loss, the bone marrow would rather release inefficient, immature red blood cells that might be able to keep the body alive until more mature erythrocytes can be produced.

 

Photo by Dr. Haus

⚕️Platelets ⚕️

Platelets, or thrombocytes, are cells that clump together to stop bleeding.  A blood clot cannot form without the platelets sticking together to plug up the hole in the blood vessel.  You can think of platelets like an adhesive that stops fluid from coming out of a tube.