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Hemolysins or haemolysins are lipids and proteins that cause lysis of red blood cells by disrupting the cell membrane.Although the lytic activity of some microbe-derived hemolysins on red blood cells may be of great importance for nutrient acquisition, many hemolysins produced by pathogens do not cause significant destruction of red blood cells during infection.
A red blood cell in a hypotonic solution, causing water to move into the cell A red blood cell in a hypertonic solution, causing water to move out of the cell. Hemolysis or haemolysis (/ h iː ˈ m ɒ l ɪ s ɪ s /), [1] also known by several other names, is the rupturing of red blood cells (erythrocytes) and the release of their contents into surrounding fluid (e.g. blood plasma).
Hemoglobin in normal red blood cells is protected by a reduction system to keep this from happening. Nitric oxide is capable of converting a small fraction of hemoglobin to methemoglobin in red blood cells. The latter reaction is a remnant activity of the more ancient nitric oxide dioxygenase function of globins.
Red blood cells (RBCs), referred to as erythrocytes (from Ancient Greek erythros 'red' and kytos 'hollow vessel', with -cyte translated as 'cell' in modern usage) in academia and medical publishing, also known as red cells, [1] erythroid cells, and rarely haematids, are the most common type of blood cell and the vertebrate's principal means of delivering oxygen (O 2) to the body tissues—via ...
In a healthy person, a red blood cell survives 90 to 120 days in the circulation, so about 1% of human red blood cells break down each day. [ 38 ] [ unreliable medical source? ] The spleen (part of the reticulo-endothelial system ) is the main organ that removes old and damaged RBCs from the circulation. [ 2 ]
Bilirubin (BR) (from the Latin for "red bile") is a red-orange compound that occurs in the normal catabolic pathway that breaks down heme in vertebrates.This catabolism is a necessary process in the body's clearance of waste products that arise from the destruction of aged or abnormal red blood cells. [3]
The formed elements are the two types of blood cell or corpuscle – the red blood cells, (erythrocytes) and white blood cells (leukocytes), and the cell fragments called platelets [12] that are involved in clotting. By volume, the red blood cells constitute about 45% of whole blood, the plasma about 54.3%, and white cells about 0.7%.
Hemoglobin is an iron-containing protein that gives red blood cells their color and facilitates transportation of oxygen from the lungs to tissues and carbon dioxide from tissues to the lungs to be exhaled. [3] Red blood cells are the most abundant cell in the blood, accounting for about 40–45% of its volume.