The blood types

Your blood type is determined by what kind of antigens your red blood cells have on the surface.
Antigens are substances that help your body differentiate between its own cells and foreign,
potentially dangerous ones. If your body thinks a cell is foreign, it will set out to destroy it.
The ABO blood typing system groups your blood into one of four categories:
Type A has the A antigen.
Type B has the B antigen.
Type AB has both A and B antigens.
Type O has neither A nor B antigens.
If blood with antigens that you don’t have enters your system, your body will create antibodies
against it. However, some people can still safely receive blood that isn’t their blood type. As
long as the blood they receive doesn’t have any antigens that mark it as foreign, their bodies
won’t attack it.

Who can donate blood to whom?

O: Type O individuals can donate blood to anyone, because their blood has no antigens.
However, they can only receive blood from other type O individuals (because blood with any
antigens is seen as foreign).
A: Type A individuals can donate to other type A individuals and type AB individuals. Type A
individuals can receive blood only from other type A individuals and type O individuals.
B: Type B individuals can donate blood to other B individuals and AB individuals. Type B
individuals can receive blood only from type B individuals and type O individuals.
AB: Type AB individuals can give blood only to other AB individuals, but can receive blood of
any type.

Blood types are further organized by Rh factor:

Rh-positive: People with Rh-positive blood have Rh antigens on the surface of their red blood
cells. People with Rh-positive blood can receive Rh-positive or Rh-negative blood.
Rh-negative: People with Rh-negative blood do not have Rh antigens. People with Rh-negative
blood can receive only blood that is also Rh-negative.
Together, the ABO and Rh grouping systems yield your complete blood type. There are eight
possible types: O-positive, O-negative, A-positive, A-negative, B-positive, B-negative, AB-
positive, and AB-negative. While type O-negative has long been considered a universal donor,
more recent research suggests that additional antibodies are sometimes present and may cause
serious reactions during a transfusion.

Austrian Karl Landsteiner discovered blood types in 1901. Before that, blood transfusions were
risky and potentially lethal. Landsteiner made the process much safer, and he was awarded the
Nobel Prize for his work.

Atherosclerosis– Literally, “hardening of the fatty stuff.” High fat diets can lead to formation of
fatty plaques lining blood vessels. These fatty areas can become calcified and hard leading to
arteriosclerosis, hardening of the arteries. When blood vessels become less stretchable, blood
pressure rises and can result in heart and kidney damage and strokes.

Myocardial infarction (MI)– An infarction is blockage of blood flow resulting in death of muscle
tissue. Layman’s language for this is a “heart attack.” The blockage occurs in one of the arteries
of the heart muscle itself, a coronary artery. Depending upon how much tissue dies, a victim of
an MI may survive and undergo cardiac rehabilitation, strengthening the remaining heart muscle,
or may die if too much muscle tissue is destroyed.

Mitral prolapse, stenosis, regurgitation– Blood flows through four chambers in the heart
separated by one-way valves. A major valve is the one separating the upper and lower chambers
on the left side of the heart. The left side is especially important because freshly oxygenated
blood returning from the lungs is circulated out of the heart to the rest of the body. The left
valve, called atrioventricular, for the chambers it separates, is also called the mitral valve,
because it is shaped like an upside down Bishop’s hat, a miter. If the flaps of this valve tear away
due to disease, the process is called prolapse, “a falling forward.” This results in leakage and
backward flow called “regurgitation”. Sometimes a valve is abnormally narrow causing partial
obstruction constricting flow. Stenosis means “a narrowing.”

Angina pectoris– Literally, “pain in the chest.” But, this is a special kind of pain associated with
the heart and is distinctive as “crushing, vise-like”, and often accompanied by shortness of
breath, fatigue and nausea. Anginal pain indicates not enough blood is getting to the heart
muscle, and the heart is protesting and begging for more. People with a history of angina often
take nitroglycerine tablets to relieve the pain by increasing blood flow to the heart muscle.
Arrhythmia/dysrhythmia– Abnormal heart rates and rhythms all have special names like
ventricular tachycardia, fibrillation, but generically are termed arrhythmias or dysrhythmia,
meaning “no rhythm” and “abnormal rhythm.” There are fine distinctions between the two, but
they are often used interchangeably.

Ischemia– Sometimes the heart muscle is not getting enough blood flow, more importantly, the
oxygen the blood carries is insufficient to sustain muscle which has a very high metabolic rate,
and oxygen demand. The term loosely means “not quite enough blood.” Typically, the patient
suffers angina pain and they may think they are having a heart attack.
1. How many chambers does the heart have?
A) Six B) Five
C) Four D) Three
2. The movement of blood through the heart and body is called:
A) Circulation B) Locomotion
C) Ventriculation D) Heart pump
3. The beating sound your heart makes comes from:
A) Blood going in the wrong direction B) Valves closing
C) The heart skipping beats D) Your ears playing tricks on you
4. With circulation, the heart provides your body with:
A) Oxygen B) Nutrients
C) A way to get rid of waste D) All of the above
5. What parts act like doors that control blood flow in the heart?
A) Valves B) Heart dams
C) Kidneys D) Chambers
Cardiovascular System – made up of the heart and the circulatory system
Heart – a muscular organ that continuously pumps blood to the different parts of the body
The mitral valve and tricuspid valve – controls the blood flow from the atria to the ventricles

The aortic valve and pulmonary valve – controls the blood flow out of the ventricles

Capillaries - are the smallest of all blood vessels and form the connection between veins and arteries.

Arteries are blood vessels which carry blood away from the heart.

Blood Pressure – is the rate and distribution of blood flow through the circulatory system.

Veins - are blood vessels which carry deoxygenated (or very low levels of oxygen) blood back to the heart.

Red blood cells, also known as erythrocytes, are by far the most common type of blood cell and
make up about 45% of blood volume.
White blood cells, also known as leukocytes, make up a very small percentage of the total
number of cells in the bloodstream, but have important functions in the body’s immune system.
Platelets are small cell fragments responsible for the clotting of blood and the formation of scabs.
Plasma is the non-cellular or liquid portion of the blood that makes up about 55% of the blood’s
volume.