What is the full form of RBC
RBC: Red Blood Cell
RBC stands for Red Blood Cell. It is also called red blood corpuscle or erythrocyte. RBC is a vital component of blood. It contains hemoglobin which is an iron-containing protein/pigment. Hemoglobin carries the oxygen throughout the body. The iron in hemoglobin gives RBC/blood its red color.
The percentage of blood volume which contains only red blood cells is called “hematocrit”. A single drop of blood contains around 0.5 billion red blood cells. There are around 40 platelets and one white blood cell for every 600 red blood cells. RBCs are continuously manufactured in the bone marrow as they live for about 120 days in the bloodstream before being removed by the spleen or liver. The bone marrow produces enough RBCs to offset the deficit caused due to the removal of senescent (old) RBCs.
A mature human RBC is small, round, disc-shaped cell that does not contain a nucleus. It measures around 7-8 microns in diameter on a peripheral blood smear. They have a flexible membrane that allows them to change their shape in order to pass through smallest blood vessels (blood capillaries). There are around 4.5 to 6 million red blood cells per cubic millimeter of the blood volume in an adult human.