• Question: How does the platelets are able to react to the hemorrhage?

    Asked by PMussons to Steph, Laura, Carmen on 19 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Stephanie Dyson

      Stephanie Dyson answered on 19 Mar 2015:

      Platlets form blood clots to stop haemorrhaging. A clot begins to form when the blood is exposed to air. The platelets sense the presence of air and begin to break apart and begin forming fibrin, which resembles tiny threads. The fibrin threads then begin to form a web-like mesh that traps the blood cells within it stopping the bleeding

      Steph

    • Photo: Carmen Denman

      Carmen Denman answered on 19 Mar 2015:

      Platelets are the cells that circulate within our blood and bind together when they recognize damaged blood vessels. When you get an injury or a cut, the platelets bind to the site of the damaged vessel, thereby causing a blood clot. There’s an evolutionary reason why they’re there. It’s to stop us from bleeding or haemorrhaging to death over tiny things. People who can’t clot blood properly suffer from haemophilia. They require blood transplants often, and even small routine bumps and bruises can be really scary for them. A damaged blood vessel no matter how small will send out a signal when it becomes damaged. When platelets receive that signal, they’ll respond by traveling to the area and transforming into their “active” formation. To make contact with the broken blood vessel, platelets grow long tentacles and then resemble a spider or an octopus! Pretty cool what our bodies are capable of and at the speed they do it.

      Cheers,

      Carmen

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