Did you know, every 60 seconds a group of cells travels all around your body? If not, now you do! Phlandearson, is a red blood cell that has volunteered to explain to us what he does, and where he goes during those 60 seconds. Give it up for, Phlandearson!
Hi, I’m Phlandearson the red blood cell, everyday my job is to go around the body every 60 seconds to throw away waste, get some good stuff, put them in a certain place, then do it all over again. May seem easy, but nope, it’s quite hard, because I must go through an exact order, or else I mess everything up, that means there’s no turning back. Let me explain it to you in detail. When I was at the right atrium I was carrying waste and CO2(carbon dioxide, which is waste), then I was pumped through the Tricuspid Valve(we call it terminal or gate ___, not “valve”) in to the right ventricle still holding poor-oxygen blood. After that, pumped again except by the right ventricle through the Pulmonary ‘valve’, then I travel through the pulmonary artery to the lungs, where I’ll be dumping the waste out as the human being exhales. When the human being inhales, I take the fresh oxygen and then run through the pulmonary vein in to the left atrium, now carrying rich-oxygen blood. At the left atrium I get squeezed through the Mital ‘valve’ in to the left ventricle, then I get squeezed by the left ventricle through the Aortic ‘valve’, and then I travel through the aorta(by the way, is the largest artery). While traveling through the aorta, I quickly stop by at the liver to get some glucose(which is sugar, just so you know) and then continue my journey to the area of diffusion(which are capillaries, by the way). There I do a little trade with the body cells, I trade my oxygen and glucose to the the body cells and receive CO2 and cell wastes(I become poor-oxygen blood again). Lastly, I move through the vein and guess what?! I’m back to where I ‘started’, the right atrium! From there, the cycle starts all over again. As you can see it’s quite a lot of work, in such a short amount of time, with lots of other cells working with you, therefore, it’s always rush hour or should I say rush hours.
Thank you Phlandearson the red blood cell for telling us your whole life so far! Well, there you have it folks, the details of the life as a single red blood cell!
Image by: Rei Shinoda