Blood plasma facts for kids
Blood plasma is the yellowish liquid part of your blood. It's like the river in your body that carries everything important. In healthy blood, tiny blood cells float around in this plasma.
Plasma makes up about 55% of your total blood. It's mostly water (about 90%). But it also holds many important things. These include proteins, sugar (glucose), and special things that help your blood clot. It also carries minerals, hormones, and even carbon dioxide, which your body needs to get rid of. Plasma acts as a transport system for waste products.
How Hospitals Use Plasma
Hospitals prepare blood plasma in a special way. First, they add a medicine to blood to stop it from clotting. Then, they spin the blood tubes very fast in a machine called a centrifuge. This machine makes the heavier blood cells go to the bottom. The lighter plasma stays on top and can be poured into another container.
Hospitals might give patients different blood products:
- Saline solution: This is pure water with salt. It's used to quickly replace blood volume in emergencies.
- Blood plasma: This helps replace lost plasma and its important parts.
- Packed red cells: These are mostly red blood cells, which carry oxygen.
- Whole blood: This is blood with all its parts, including plasma and cells.
Blood serum is similar to plasma. But it doesn't have the special proteins that help blood clot. So, it's like plasma minus the clotting factors.
Plasmapheresis is a medical treatment. It involves taking a patient's blood plasma out, treating it, and then putting it back into the patient's body.
Storing Blood Plasma
Whole blood plasma can be kept frozen for a long time. It can also be dried into a powder. Dried plasma is very useful because it can be sent anywhere in the world. This was especially important for the armed forces during wartime.
The method for drying plasma was invented in the USA in 1940. It was used a lot during World War II. The standard military package had two tin cans. Each can held a bottle. One bottle had the dried plasma. The other had pure water. The plasma could be mixed with water and ready to use in just three minutes. It would then stay fresh for about four hours.
Images for kids
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Dried plasma packages used by the British and US militaries during WWII.
See also
In Spanish: Plasma (sangre) para niños
