Page 25 - The Miracle of the Blood and Heart

Blood: The Incomparable
Liquid of Life

these erythrocytes in our bodies. This figure is hundreds of
8
times the number of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. To realize
that the red blood cells in your body could easily cover half of
a football pitch will help you grasp the magnitude of this
9
number. Stretched end to end, these cells would form a tower
50,000 kilometers (or 31,070 miles) high. 10 If we were able to
spread the erythrocytes in the body out like a carpet, then
these cells would cover an area of 3,800 square kilometers (or
1,467 square miles). 11 There are so very many red blood cells
in the body that every second up to 3 million new red blood
cells enter the bloodstream just to replace those that have
died. 12
Red blood cells are produced by the stem cells in the bone
marrow, that rubbery tissue in the largest bones in the body.
During its four-month lifespan, a single red blood cell travels
between the lungs and the other tissues of the body 75,000
times before returning to the bone marrow. By the time you
turn this page, you will have lost some 3 million red blood
cells throughout your body. At the same time, a similar num-
ber will also have been produced in your bone marrow. 13
Maintaining this equilibrium is most important. Blood
cells that have completed their life spans are always replaced
by new ones, because the bone marrow is in a constant state of
production. Its cells begin this intensive process with the
receipt of a chemical signal, and this production then comes to
an end once the need has been met.
The chemical communication that brings this about is
truly staggering to contemplate. Cells communicate by
means of hundreds of different kinds of molecules.
The message that needs to be transmitted to the
Adnan
Oktar

23