AY Honors/Blood and the Body's Defenses/Answer Key

Be able to draw pictures of and name the 7 types of blood cells and indicate what each type does.

1. Red Blood Cells:
2. White Blood Cells: There are five main types of white blood cells including:
   1. Neutrophils, which travel to infected tissue and surround bacteria, rendering them harmless to the body.
   2. Monocytes, which also travel to infected tissue and turn into macrophages. As macrophages, these cells kill germs (including cancer cells) and start the production of antibodies.
   3. Eosinophils, are white blood cells responsible for combatting infections by parasites.
   4. Lymphocytes are type of white blood cell involved in the human body's immune system. There are two broad categories of lymphocytes, namely T cells and B cells. T cells are especially important in cell-mediated immunity, which is the defense against tumor cells and pathogenic organisms inside body cells. They are also involved in rejection reactions. B cells, in the presence of an antigen (a substance that stimulates an immune response), can become much more metabolically active and differentiate into plasma cells, which secrete large quantities of antibodies.
   5. Basophils store histamine, a chemical that is secreted by the cells when stimulated in certain ways (histamine causes some of the symptoms of an allergic reaction). Basophils tend to appear in specific kinds of inflammatory reactions, particularly those that cause allergic symptoms.
3. Platelets: are the blood cell fragments that are involved in the cellular mechanisms that lead to the formation of blood clots.

What two gasses are transported by the red blood cells? Explain why blood appears blue/green in your veins, but if you cut yourself, the blood that comes out is bright red. Explain why a lack of iron in your diet might make you have yellowish-colored blood.

Red blood cells transport oxygen to the rest of the body and carry the carbon dioxide away. Blood carrying oxygen appears bright red. hen you cut yourself, your blood is exposed to oxygen in the air, and this is sufficient to cause it to turn color. When little oxygen is present i the blood, it is still red, but it is much darker, tending more towards black. Blood is neither blue nor green inside your veins, but it looks this way sometimes because the veins themselves and pigment in your skin impart a bluish tint.

Blood carries oxygen by letting it bind loosely with iron. Without sufficient iron in the blood, its oxygen carrying capacity is reduced. Since oxygen is what makes the blood bright red, it cannot assume this color without iron.

What does it mean to be a blood donor? If possible, know your blood type. What types of blood can be donated to you? Which blood types cannot be donated to you? Why?

Blood compatibility chart

Recipient Blood Type	Donor must be
AB+	Any blood type
AB-	O-	A-	B-	AB-
A+	O-	O+	A-	A+
A-	O-	A-
B+	O-	O+	B-	B+
B-	O-	B-
O+	O-	O+
O-	O-

References

• Wikipedia articles on Blood and Blood Type