Acupuncture Chinese Herbal Medicine Treatment for Blood Diseases

Blood System Function:

Blood performs many important functions within the body including:

• Supply of oxygen to tissues (bound tohemoglobin, which is carried in red cells)
• Supply of nutrients such as glucose, amino acids, and fatty acids (dissolved in the blood or bound to plasma proteins (e.g., blood lipids))
• Removal of waste such as carbon dioxide, urea, and lactic acid
• Immunological functions, including circulation of white blood cells, and detection of foreign material by antibodies
• Coagulation, which is one part of the body's self-repair mechanism (blood clotting after an open wound in order to stop bleeding)
• Messenger functions, including the transport of hormones and the signaling of tissue damage
• Regulation of body pH
• Regulation of core body temperature
• Hydraulic functions

Blood accounts for 8% of the human body weight, with an average density of approximately 1060 kg/m3, very close to pure water's density of 1000 kg/m3. The average adult has a blood volume of roughly 5 liters (1.3 gal), composed of plasma and several kinds of cells (occasionally called corpuscles); these formed elements of the blood are erythrocytes (red blood cells, RBCs), leukocytes (white blood cells), and thrombocytes (platelets). By volume, the red blood cells constitute about 45% of whole blood, the plasma about 54.3%, and white cells about 0.7%.

Whole blood (plasma and cells) exhibits non-Newtonian fluid dynamics; its flow properties are adapted to flow effectively through tiny capillary blood vessels with less resistance than plasma by itself. In addition, if all human hemoglobin were free in the plasma rather than being contained in RBCs, the circulatory fluid would be too viscous for the cardiovascular system to function effectively.

Blood System Conditions

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