The structure of a red blood cell and how it relates to it's function

RBC are biconcave in shape, they are very flexible and have the ability to twist, bend and bounce back to their original shape when they are squeezing through blood vessels and through minute capillary alleyways. The red colour of blood is due to oxygenated blood cells.
RBC are the most numerous type of cell in the blood. RBC are packed with haemoglobin involved in the carriage of oxygen.

RBC mature in the bone marrow, which is closely attached to a macrophage. The RBC manufacture haemoglobin until it accounts for 90% of the dry weight of the cell. The nucleus is squeezed out of the cell and is then ingested by the macrophage. RBC lives for120 days and are then ingested by phagocytic cells in the liver and spleen.

Adults have a limited number of cytes produced in the thoracic bones, vertebrae, cranial bones and the ends of the femur and the humerus. Our blood contains 25 trillion red cells, these cells are replaced by 3 million per second.

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