Blood

Blood is a fluid that circulates around the body through the system of blood vessels that includes:

• arteries
• arterioles
• capillaries
• venules, and
• veins.
  

Blood consists of many different particles that, together, form the fluid known as "blood". These constituents of blood include:

• thrombocytes ("blood platelets")
• erythrocytes ("red blood cells"), and
• leucocytes ("white blood cells").

There are however, many different types of leucocytes (white blood cells), including:

• agranulocytes (lymphocytes and monocytes) and
• granulocytes or "polymorphonucleocytes" (basophils, neutrophils and eosinophils).

A typical human being has approx. 70 ml of blood per kilogram of body weight. So an average adult male has approx. 5 litres of blood.

For more information about other components (sometimes called the 'constituents') of blood, see the page about the structure and functions of blood. This may interest students of holistic massage, reflexology, beauty therapies, or health-related courses.