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A Plasma Cell is a short-lived antibody-producing cell derived from a type of leukocyte (white blood cell) called a B cell. |
An average person is estimated to contain roughly 30 trillion human cells, of which 25 trillion are red blood cells according to recent research.
This is, of course, a rough approximation. It’s extraordinarily complicated to count human cells. Each of the 200 different types of cells in the human body has a different weight and size. Within the body, some cells are packed more densely, while others are more spread out. Many cells are constantly dying, and new ones being made simultaneously. Extra variances are due to age, height, weight, health, and environmental factors.
A recent study used a man between 20 and 30 years of age, weighing 70 kilograms (154 pounds) and measuring 170 centimeters (5 feet, 7 inches) in height, as a reference. In the study, researchers went through each cell type and used a variety of tedious methods to estimate the number of each type. They used the most up-to-date information available to make a detailed list of volumes and densities in every organ of the body. Once they arrived at an estimate of all the different cell types, they added them all together. The number they arrived at was 30 trillion.
With respect to that person, about 5 million cells die every second.
Red blood cells live for about four months and white blood cells live on average more than a year. Skin cells live about two or three weeks. And with all the wear and tear involved, colon cells die after about four days. After procreation, sperm cells have a life span of about three days.
With regard to the organs and bones, the body mostly replaces itself every seven to 15 years. However much of the cardiac muscle (about 2 to 3 billion cells) and central nervous system (about 86 billion neuron cells in the brain, about 1 billion in the spinal cord) can last an entire lifetime. This full number of neurons are present when we are born, similar to most of the cells in our heart muscle, and all of a female's ova.
You may have read that bacterial cells in the human body outnumber human cells 10 to 1. The primary source for that ratio dates back to the 1970s, when American microbiologists used a series of assumptions to calculate the number of bacteria inside the intestinal tract. The 10:1 ratio has since been disproven.
New data show that the number of bacterial cells inside a human body is around 38 trillion. This turns out to be much closer to the estimated 30 trillion human cells in the body. So, while there are likely more bacterial cells than human cells in your body at any given time, the difference isn’t as great as previously thought. And they have a very tiny mass, perhaps 1 - 3% of our total body weight.
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Firstly, plasma makes up about 55% of the total blood volume. It is about 93% water, designed to transport nutrients, hormones, and proteins to the parts of the body that need it.
With regard to the other 45%, there are three types of blood cells: red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Red blood cells (RBCs) are by far the most abundant type of cell in the human body, accounting for over 80 percent of all cells, not just blood cells.
Adult humans have somewhere around 25 trillion RBCs in their body, on average. Women usually have fewer RBCs than men, while people living at higher altitudes will usually have more. RBCs extrude the nucleus, the DNA, and each cell is capable of transporting one billion molecules of oxygen. However, the DNA does determine your Blood Type. Click here for more information on blood types and the Rh factor.
The rate of blood cell formation varies depending on the individual, but a typical production might average about 200 billion red cells per day, 400 billion platelets per day, and 10 billion white cells per day.
In your blood the normal white cell count ranges between 4,000 and 11,000 cells per microliter (millionth of a litre) so in 5 litres of blood, the healthy range is between 20 billion to 55 billion white cells at any given point of time. The bone marrow stores an estimated 80–90% of your white cells. Unlike red blood cells, white blood cells retain their nucleus, their DNA, in order to form a major part of the body's immune system. Click here for more about white blood cells. Click here for some notes on the spleen and our lymphatic system. Click here for more about macrophages. Click here for some text notes on HIV infection.
There are about one trillion platelets in a healthy adult, though once again this number can vary widely. Platelets have no nucleus, they are fragments of cells that assist the body to form blood clots when bleeding occurs.
There are roughly 171 billion cells in the average male brain and spinal cord according to new research, including about 86 billion neurons. Neurons are cells that help transmit signals throughout the brain, along with motor neurons and sensory neurons throughout the central nervous system. There are also 85 billion other cells in the brain, called glial cells, that help support the neurons. All of the neurons are present when a child is born.
Unlike normal cells, neurons do not reproduce, and they will die off like any other cell, though many may last a lifetime. Perhaps 85 thousand (one millionth of them) die daily without being replaced (that's about one per second). Neural function and an ever growing body of stored information (memory) is maintained because the neurons continue to grow over the course of the individual's life. Specifically, the cell generates new dendrites (structures on the neuron that receive electrical messages) and the existing ones get longer and branch out. This dendritic branching allows for an ever increasing number of connections to form. The result is an elaborately interconnected network.
When you bump your head and suffer a concussion, neurons die. When there is a glitch in the blood supply to the brain, also called a stroke, neurons die. Neurons also die when faced with changes in their own functions which happens in the so-called neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, and Ischaemia. The mode of cell death though is often unclear.
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