Since marrow stem cells spawn every kind of blood cell, they can, when transplanted, restore life to a dying host. Blood is constantly being renewed by stem cells in our bone marrow: red cells turn over every few months, platelets and most white cells every few days. Platelets and proteins in plasma form clots that can prevent fatal hemorrhages. White cells defend us against invasion by lethal pathogens. Red cells carry oxygen, required for our heart to beat and our brain to function. This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.ĭuring my training as a hematologist at U.C.L.A., forty years ago, a senior faculty member introduced the program of study by citing a verse from Leviticus: “The life of the flesh is in the blood.” For the assembled young physicians, this was a biological truth.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |