red pulp

(noun)

The site of blood filtration in the spleen.

Related Terms

Examples of red pulp in the following topics:

  • Spleen

    • Red pulp is the site of blood filtration in the spleen.
    • White pulp is secondary lymphoid tissue that is similar to that in the adenoid tonsils.
    • When blood passes through the red pulp of the spleen, healthy blood cells easily pass, while older red blood cells are caught phagocytized by the macrophages within.
    • Antigens are also filtered by the red pulp, which may be presented to naive lymphocytes in the white pulp of the spleen.
    • This diagram of the spleen indicates the vein, artery, white pulp, red pulp, and capsule.

  • Root Canal Therapy

    • Endodontic therapy is the treatment for the pulp of a tooth which results in the protection of the decontaminated tooth.
    • Root canals and their associated pulp chamber are the physical hollows within a tooth that are naturally inhabited by nerve tissue, blood vessels, and other cellular entities.
    • To cure the infection and save the tooth, the dentist drills into the pulp chamber and removes the infected pulp and then drills the nerve out of the root canal with long needle-shaped drills.
    • Sometimes the dentist performs preliminary treatment of the tooth by removing all of the infected pulp of the tooth and applying a dressing and temporary filling to the tooth.
    • After removing as much of the internal pulp as possible, the root canals can be temporarily filled with calcium hydroxide paste.

  • Dietary Fiber

    • For example, plums and prunes have a thick skin covering a juicy pulp.
    • The plum's skin is a source of insoluble fiber while soluble fiber is in the pulp.

  • Sciatic Nerve Injury

    • When there is a tear in the annulus fibrosus, the nucleus pulposus (pulp) may extrude through the tear and press against spinal nerves within the spinal cord, cauda equina, or exiting nerve roots, causing inflammation, numbness, or excruciating pain.

  • RBC Anatomy

    • Human erythrocytes or red blood cells (RBCs) are the primary cellular component of blood.
    • The RBCs' distinctive red color is due to the spectral properties of the binding of hemic iron ions in hemoglobin.
    • Each human red blood cell contains approximately 270 million of these hemoglobin biomolecules, each carrying four heme groups (individual proteins).
    • Diagram the anatomy of an erythrocyte (red blood cell, or RBC)

  • Sickle-Cell Disease

    • This crisis is triggered by parvovirus B19, which directly affects erythropoiesis (production of red blood cells) by invading the red cell precursors and multiplying in them and destroying them.
    • The red blood cells break down at a faster rate.
    • This scanning electron micrograph shows red blood cells.
    • Figure A shows normal red blood cells flowing freely in a blood vessel.
    • Figure B shows abnormal, sickled red blood cells blocking blood flow in a blood vessel.

  • Complete Blood Count

    • Reticulocytes are immature red blood cells, typically composing about 1% of the red cells in the human body.
    • Reticulocytes develop and mature in the red bone marrow and then circulate for about a day in the blood stream before developing into mature red blood cells.
    • Like mature red blood cells, reticulocytes do not have a cell nucleus.
    • When there is an increased production of red blood cells to overcome chronic or severe loss of mature red blood cells, such as in a hemolytic anemia, people often have a markedly high number and percentage of reticulocytes.
    • This schematic of a reticulocyte shows the reticular network of ribosomal RNA that differentiates the reticulocyte from mature red blood cells.

  • Physical Characteristics and Volume

    • Blood contains plasma and blood cells, some of which have hemoglobin that makes blood red.
    • Blood appears red because of the high amount of hemoglobin, a molecule found on RBCs.
    • Deoxygenated blood is a darker shade of red.
    • Carbon monoxide poisoning causes bright red blood due to the formation of carboxyhemoglobin.
    • In cyanide poisoning, venous blood remains oxygenated, increasing the redness.

  • Transfusions of Whole Blood

    • Sedimentation, in which whole blood sits overnight, causing the red blood cells and plasma to settle and slowly separate by the force of normal gravity.
    • Whole blood transfusion has similar risks to those of transfusion of red blood cells.
    • Most of the indications for use are identical to those for red blood cells.
    • Whole blood is sometimes "recreated" from stored red blood cells and fresh frozen plasma for neonatal transfusions.
    • This provides a final product with a very specific hematocrit (percentage of red cells) with type O red cells and type AB plasma to minimize the chance of complications.

  • Anemia

    • Anemia is a decrease in number of red blood cells (RBCs), or less than the normal quantity of hemoglobin in the blood.
    • Apart from reporting the number of red blood cells and the hemoglobin level, the automatic counters also measure the size of the red blood cells by flow cytometry, which is an important tool in distinguishing between the causes of anemia.
    • This is a quantitative measure of the bone marrow's production of new red blood cells.
    • In the morphological approach, anemia is classified by the size of red blood cells.
    • For instance, a microcytic anemia (smaller than usual red blood cells) is often the result of iron deficiency.