Red blood cell

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Red blood cells are the most common type of blood cell and the vertebrate body's principal means of delivering oxygen to the body tissues via the blood. They take up oxygen in the lungs or gills and release it while squeezing through the body's capillaries. The cells are filled with hemoglobin, a biomolecule that can bind to oxygen. The blood's red color is due to the color of oxygen-rich hemoglobin. In humans, red blood cells develop in the bone marrow and live for about 120 days; they take the form of flexible biconcave disks that lack a cell nucleus and organelles and they cannot synthesize protein.

Red blood cells are also known as RBCs, red blood corpuscles (an archaic term), haematids or erythrocytes (from Greek erythros for "red" and kytos for "hollow", with cyte translated as "cell" in modern usage). The capitalized term Red Blood Cells is the proper name in the US for erythrocytes in storage solution used in transfusion medicine.

For more information about Red blood cell, read the full article at Wikipedia.
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News tagged with red blood cells

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New research into the mechanisms of gene regulation

New research into the mechanisms of gene regulation

Medicine & Health / Genetics

created Nov 19, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A team led by Penn State's Ross Hardison, T. Ming Chu Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, has taken a large step toward unraveling how regulatory proteins control the production ...


Small nanoparticles bring big improvement to medical imaging

Small nanoparticles bring big improvement to medical imaging

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Nov 18, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

If you're watching the complex processes in a living cell, it is easy to miss something important—especially if you are watching changes that take a long time to unfold and require high-spatial-resolution ...


Oil from biotech soybeans increases key omega-3 fatty acid in humans

Medicine & Health / Health

created Nov 16, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Oil from soybeans modified through biotechnology increased levels of omega-3 eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) in red blood cells according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2009.


Drugs to treat anemia in cancer patients linked to thromboembolism

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Nov 10, 2009 | popularity 2.5 / 5 (2) | comments 1

Medications frequently given to cancer patients to reduce their risk of anemia are associated with an increased risk of deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism, according to new research led by Dawn Hershman, M.D, M.S., ...


Scientists successfully reprogram blood cells

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 09, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 0

Researchers have transplanted genetically modified hematopoietic stem cells into mice so that their developing red blood cells produce a critical lysosomal enzyme -preventing or reducing organ and central nervous system damage ...


Study targets stroke prevention in children with sickle cell anemia

Medicine & Health / Research

created Oct 28, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital investigators were recently awarded a $23 million federal grant to launch a national study of the drug hydroxyurea to prevent first strokes in children and adolescents with sickle cell ...


Slipper-shaped blood cells

Slipper-shaped blood cells

Physics / General Physics

created Oct 26, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Red blood cells, which make up 45 percent of blood, normally take the shape of circular cushions with a dimple on either side. But they can sometimes deform into an asymmetrical slipper shape. A team of physicists ...


Red grape skin extract could be new treatment for sickle cell disease patients

Red grape skin extract could be new treatment for sickle cell disease patients

Medicine & Health / Research

created Oct 22, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

An extract in red grape skin may be a new treatment for sickle cell disease, Medical College of Georgia researchers say.


Better blood screening process needed to prevent babesiosis transmission

Medicine & Health / Other

created Oct 20, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Babesiosis is a potentially dangerous parasitic disease transmitted by ticks and is common in the Northeast and the upper Midwest. Babesia lives inside of red blood cells, meaning it can also be transmitted through a blood ...


Artificial reddener: New synthetic route for EPO and other glycoprotein analogues

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Oct 19, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Erythropoetin, abbreviated EPO, has gained a scandalous reputation as a doping agent for racing cyclists. The name is derived from the ancient Greek erythros "red" and poiein “to make”, a fitting designation ...


Ironing out the genetic cause of hemoglobin problems

Ironing out the genetic cause of hemoglobin problems

Medicine & Health / Genetics

created Oct 11, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A gene with a significant effect on regulating hemoglobin in the body has been identified as part of a genome-wide association study, which looked at the link between genes and hemoglobin ...


Researchers find gene that could lead to new therapies for bone marrow disease

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Sep 28, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) researchers are one step closer to finding new ways to treat Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS), a bone marrow disease that strikes up to 15,000 people each year in the United States, and ...


Old red blood cells may double mortality in trauma patients

Medicine & Health / Research

created Sep 22, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Severe trauma patients requiring a major transfusion are twice as likely to die if they receive red blood cells stored for a month or longer, according to research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Critical Ca ...


Anemic patients with MDS gain long-term benefits from erythropoietin and a myeloid growth factor

Medicine & Health / Research

created Sep 17, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), a group of blood disorders that can lead to acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in some patients, often cause severe anemia (when the body lacks a sufficient number of functional red blood cells). ...


Study shows how disruption of spectrin-actin network causes lens cells in the eye to lose shape

Study shows how disruption of spectrin-actin network causes lens cells in the eye to lose shape

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Sep 14, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

A network of proteins underlying the plasma membrane keeps epithelial cells in shape and maintains their orderly hexagonal packing in the mouse lens, say Nowak et al. The study will appear in the September ...