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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).
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 ...
The average red blood cell contains 250 million hemoglobin molecules. [7] Hemoglobin contains a globin protein unit with four prosthetic heme groups (hence the name heme-o-globin); each heme is capable of reversibly binding with one gaseous molecule (oxygen, carbon monoxide, cyanide, etc.), [8] therefore a typical red blood cell may carry up to one billion gas molecules.
The carbon dioxide molecules form a carbamate with the four terminal-amine groups of the four protein chains in the deoxy form of the molecule. Thus, one hemoglobin molecule can transport four carbon dioxide molecules back to the lungs, where they are released when the molecule changes back to the oxyhemoglobin form.
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.
Blood plasma is the liquid component of whole blood, and makes up approximately 55% of the total blood volume.It is composed primarily of water with small amounts of minerals, salts, ions, nutrients, and proteins in solution.
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]