Talk:Red blood cell
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I would be interested in knowing why mammalian red blood cells lose their nuclei when they mature. Or on the flip side of that question, why do the red blood cells of other creatures (ie birds) NOT lose their nuclei.
- RBCs are basically bags of hemoglobin whose only job it is to deliver oxygen to the tissues. The doughnut shape is optimized for this task. The nucleus is in the way and makes the bag larger than necessary which is disadvantageous in the tiny capillaries, so it's a good idea to get rid of it. It's not really needed, since no new proteins need to be manufactured once all the hemoglobin is in place. Birds don't lose the RBC nuclei because they were not (yet) lucky enough to evolve this trick. AxelBoldt 22:19, 15 May 2005 (UTC)
hi there,
i had to write a story about red blood cells. the story starts with something like this; its dark in here, but roomy... and it's pretty noisy too. ther's a constant whooshing sound , and in the distance i can hear the rhythmic sound of a drum, perhaps? " thump- thump- thump " the sound gets louder as i get swept away along with others like myself and some other odd-looking ones. we are all loaded down with carbon dioxide molecules, holding them tightly. the noise becomes unbearable now, and we all enter though this large, gaping hole. is this our destination? but wait, the walls begin to come together, and we are all pushed through giant gateways.... where am i?