Red Blood Cells (Erythrocytes)

Red Blood Cell Function

The funcrion of red blood cells is that they contain hemoglobin that can carry oxygen from the lung to the tissues. This hemoglobin is termed red oxyhemoglobin. Furthermore, red blood cells contain carbonic anhydrase which allows red blood cells to scavenge CO2 while moving pass tissues that have used oxygen in metabolism and produced CO2 as a by-product.

Red Blood Cell Structure

The red blood cell lacks a nuleus. The entire cell has a diameter of 7.5. The red blood cell has a characteristic biconcave shape, that when looked under a microscope on a blood smear or film (both are different names for the same thing), makes the red cell have a central pale region. This biconcavity of the cell allows it to be flexible, allowing it to deform in shape when squeezing through the smallest capillaries, which are smaller in diamter than the red blood cells themselves. In addition, the shape increases the surface area of the cell, allowing for more surface area to be avaible to allow oxygen to diffuse in and out, in addition to CO2. This characteristic shape is determined by cytoskeletal interactions with the inner plasma membrance, and well-known proteins such as spectrin. Genetic diseases that affect proteins involved in the red cell, whether part of the cell membrane or the inner contents, will lead to disease, such as sickle cell anemia, spherocytosis and G6PD (enzyme deficiency).