Platelets

Below: Resting platelet = top left Platelets play an extremely important in control of blood loss through their Activating/Flattening towards bottom right. involvement in the clotting mechanism. Platelets are irregularlyshaped bodies/fragments (not cells) with sticky surfaces, that allow them to seed clot formation. When a person bleeds externally, the end result of clotting is a visible and palpable scab made from a dried mesh of blood cells and a mesh of fibrin proteins, along with other extracellular proteins. Internal bleeding results in a similar blood clotting process, involving clotting factors, platelets, and extracellular proteins, but appears as a bruise. Both scabs and bruises are clots that control blood loss and lead to healing.

Interested in learning more? Platelets are sometimes called thrombocytes. Thrombocytopenia is a disorder that results in a reduced platelet count. (You could investigate this disorder for your project if you desire).

Aspirin, along with chemicals called blood thinners, impair platelet function by reducing their stickiness, and thus their ability to initiate and maintain a strong clotting process. Aspirin is used long-term, at low doses, to help prevent heart attacks, strokes, and blood clot formation in people at high risk of developing blood clots. It has also been established that low doses of aspirin given immediately after a heart attack, reduce the risk of another heart attack and of the death of cardiac muscles.

Below: Both red & white blood cells first aggregate to form a platelet plug, become trapped in fibrin webs during clot formation, providing the clot with then release chemical signals that are its characteristic colour. responsible for activating the 13 clotting factors. Normally, this process is essential to control bleeding (homeostasis) and is a critical first step in the healing process. Clotting inhibitors are an important negative feedback that keeps coagulation from getting out of hand. Fibrinolysis refers to the breakdown of fibrin, and occurs once an injury has been healed. Importantly, a stroke is the result of a clot forming in (or breaking off and depositing in) an artery supplying the brain with oxygen. If the flow of oxygen is broken, brain damage, paralysis, or even death may result. A

For blood to coagulate, platelets

Interested in learning more? Platelets are sometimes called thrombocytes. Thrombocytopenia is a disorder that results in a reduced platelet count. (You could investigate this disorder for your project if you desire).

clot that occludes a coronary artery (responsible for supplying the heart muscles with oxygen) will result in a heart attack.

Platelets are produced by megakaryocytes within the bone marrow. In contrast to the erythrocyte, which has a diameter of 7-8 microns,

megakaryocytes (shown left

amidst red blood cells) have an average diameter of 20 to 25 microns. Each megakaryocyte produces a total of 1000 to 3000 platelets.
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Interested in learning more? Platelets are sometimes called thrombocytes. Thrombocytopenia is a disorder that results in a reduced platelet count. (You could investigate this disorder for your project if you desire).