Question: is blood made up from stuff and if so what?

Karen answered on 9 Nov 2016:

Hi Claire, blood is made up of red cells, white cells, platelets and plasma. Red cells carry oxygen around the body to the organs etc. White cells can be broken down into neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes, eosinophils and basophils. Neutrophils and monocytes fight bacterial infections (e.g. E. coli and salmonella), lymphocytes fight viral infections (e.g. Cold, flu, chicken pox) , eosinophils react to an allergic response producing histamine and nobody is really sure what basophils do (you have very few of them). Platelets are little bits of cells that help your blood to clot if you cut yourself. Plasma is the liquid part of blood and contains things like sodium and potassium, vitamins and blood clotting proteins. My job is to analyse blood and to make sure all the cells are there in the correct numbers, size and shape and that you plasma has the right amount of clotting factors etc. Hope this helps?