RED BLOOD CELL & FIBRIN, SEM
Image details
Contributor:
BSIP SA / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
D3HK0YFile size:
25.6 MB (1 MB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
3630 x 2467 px | 30.7 x 20.9 cm | 12.1 x 8.2 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
13 September 2005Photographer:
CDC/ JANICE CARR / BSIPMore information:
This scanning electron micrograph (SEM) depicted a closer view of number of red blood cells found enmeshed in a fibrinous matrix on the luminal surface of an indwelling vascular catheter; Magnified 5698x. In this instance, the indwelling catheter was a tube that was left in place creating a patent portal directly into a blood vessel. Note the biconcave cytomorphologic shape of each erythrocyte, which increases the surface area of these hemoglobin-filled cells, thereby, promoting a greater degree of gas exchange, which is their primary function in an in vivo setting. In their adult phase, these cells possess no nucleus. What appears to be irregularly-shaped chunks of debris, are actually fibrin clumps, which when inside the living organism, functions as a key component in the process of blood clot formation, acting to entrap the red blood cells in a mesh-like latticework of proteinaceous strands, thereby, stabilizing and strengthening the clot, in much the same way as rebar acts to strengthen, and reinforce cement.