• Question: What are blood platelets are what do they do

    Asked by anon-39759 to Ingmar on 7 Nov 2022.
    • Photo: Ingmar Schoen

      Ingmar Schoen answered on 7 Nov 2022:

      Blood platelets are small cells. Cells are the basic units of your body. A cell can perform quite complicated tasks.

      Blood contains three main cell types:
      (1) red blood cells that transport oxygen from your lungs through the body. This oxygen is ‘burnt’ as a fuel by e.g. muscle cells.
      (2) white blood cells that are part of your immune system. If there is an infection in a part of your body, they will squeeze through the blood vessel wall and crawl into the tissue to help fight the infection.
      (3) platelets, my favourite blood cells. Platelets are the plumbers of your body: if there is a leak in a blood vessel, e.g. because you have cut your finger, they seal off the hole. Platelets thus make sure that the bleeding stops after a short time.

      How important platelets are becomes clear when they are not around. Some people have a low platelet count, which means that they do not have enough platelets in their blood. These people bruise easily.

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