How does the structure of red blood cell enhance its function?
Red blood cells are the most common type of blood cell and the vertebrate body’s principal means of delivering oxygen to the body tissues via the blood. The cells are filled with hemoglobin, a biomolecule that can bind to oxygen. They take up oxygen in the lungs or gills and release it while squeezing through the body’s capillaries. The blood’s red color is due to the color of hemoglobin. In humans, red blood cells develop in the bone marrow, take the form of flexible biconcave disks, lack a cell nucleus, subcellular organelles and the ability to synthesize protein, and live for about 120 days. Human red blood cells Red blood cells are also known as RBCs, red blood corpuscles (an archaic term), haematids or erythrocytes (from Greek erythros for “red” and kytos for “hollow”, with cyte translated as “cell” in modern usage). The capitalized term Red Blood Cells is the proper name in the US for erythrocytes in storage solution used in transfusion medicine.
