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What is blood plasma and why is it so important?
Your blood contains two basic components, cellular and fluid. Most people are
familiar with the cellular part: red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets,
which aid in clotting.
PLASMA, the liquid component, makes up over 50% of blood volume in the
body. A clear, yellowish liquid, it serves to carry water, nutrients, crucial
proteins and infection fighters to every cell in the body.
Modern medicine, ancient source
Blood, if you will, is natural medicine. Ancient peoples recognized blood as
essential to life - though the approach to its use was more often blood-letting.
However, the proactive use of blood and its components to treat sick and
injured patients did not develop until the latter part of the 20th century.
The first documented donor-to-patient transfusion was in France in 1667. Such
early attempts failed more often than not until a German scientist, Dr. Karl
Landsteiner, discovered that blood could be typed according to the presence
or absence of certain proteins in 1901. An American, Dr. Charles Drew,
discovered how to preserve plasma, making transport possible. As a result,
the lives of thousands of soldiers and other victims of World War II were saved.
Since then, bioscience has learned how to employ not only whole blood and
plasma to treat patients but many of the individual components as well.
Coursing through your veins, you do indeed carry the gift of life.
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