Figure 1: Red Blood Cells is a photograph by Dennis Kunkel Microscopy/science Photo Library which was uploaded on September 17th, 2018.
If the answers are 'yes', this is very bad news.
Strap in, hold onto your hats and grab a glass of wine. This is a long article. And it’s very important.
Coincidence?
Pfizer to Acquire Global Blood Therapeutics for $5.4 Billion to Enhance Presence in Rare Hematology
On blood
Blood. Ahh blood. From silly B-rated horror films, to the first time we scraped our knees falling off of our bikes, we all know a little about blood. It runs. It clots. It’s red. It smells like… iron. Blood runs through our arteries and veins and is an essential component to our incredible living bodies and our circulatory systems. Blood is made up of white blood cells, platelets, plasma (that contains proteins, water, hormones, nutrients, etc) and red blood cells. The following delightful artistic depiction shows red blood cells (red), white blood cells (yellow) and activated platelets (green).
On red blood cells/erythrocytes
Red blood cells or erythrocytes, comprise a large component of the blood and originate from the bone marrow.1 Production of red blood cells is controlled by a kidney-sourced hormone called erythropoietin (meaning ‘make red’ from ancient Greek: ερυθρός/erythros(=red) + ποιέω/poieo (=create, make)). They come about from the bone marrow as immature cells, and take about 7 days to mature to end up circulating in the blood, where they ‘live’ about 120 days. They are anucleated (they do not contain a nucleus) so they can slip in and out of tight spaces like blood vessels within the circulatory system. Each cell contains millions of proteins called hemoglobin. Blood is red because of red blood cell content, and red blood cells are red because of the iron cores in the heme (porphyrin containing iron ring - I explain this soon) that make up the hemoglobin proteins.
“Specifically it is the iron (Fe) atom in the heme component that contributes with a bound Oxygen molecule to the red color.”2 Red blood cells also balance Nitric Oxide (NO) scavenging and production.3 Perhaps one of the most relevant characteristics of red blood cells is that they express Cluster of Differentiation molecule 147 (CD147) on their cell surfaces, which is a ligand of SARS-nCoV-2 spike protein.4 I will write more on this in the following sections.
Figure 2: Healthy red blood cells with a granular white cell. http://medicalpicturesinfo.com/red-blood-cells/
Red blood cells also carry blood group antigens on their surfaces. This means that depending on which blood type you are, you will have specific antigens on the surfaces of your red blood cells.Figure 3: Blood group antigens on red blood cells. https://www.coursehero.com/study-guides/microbiology/hypersensitivities/
If you are blood type O, then you do not have blood group antigens on your red blood cells, but you do have anti-A and B isohemagglutinins (antibodies) against A and B antigens. That’s why you can’t get a blood transfusion from someone who doesn’t have blood type O, if you are blood type O, for example. Your ‘O’ anti-A and B isohemagglutinins will recognize the foreign blood group antigens on those red blood cells and destroy them (hemolysis). Blood type O (Rh D-) individuals are the so-called ‘universal donors’, therefore: they can give to anyone because they lack antigens on their red blood cell surfaces. Blood type ABers (Rh D+), the so-called universal recipients, can get blood from everyone, because they don’t have attack antibodies! Very cool, eh? *One must also consider the...
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