White Blood Cells (WBC) - Research Paper Example

Bone marrow is the producer of White Blood Cells. The major function of Hematopoietic stem cells, found in bone marrow, is the production of WBC. Hematopoietic stem cells have a life span of only three to four days and therefore, any deficiencies in the production of this stem cell may affect the production of WBC also. “The white blood cells have a short life cycle, living from a few days to a few weeks. A drop of blood can contain anywhere from 7,000 to 25,000 white blood cells at a time”(White Blood Cells: Battling Blood Cells, 2012).

This paper analyses various features of WBC. WBC’s are found throughout our body even though it is produced in bone marrow only. In other words, WBC produced from the bone marrow, is distributed all over the body to prevent the attack of foreign materials into the body. However, WBC density in bone marrow is more than that in any other parts of the body. There are six major types of white blood cells: Basophils, Bands, Eosinophils, Lymphocytes (T cells and B cells), Monocytes and Neutrophils.

The average percentage of each type in the blood is as follows: Neutrophils - 58 percent; Eosinophils - 2 percent; Basophils - 1 percent; Bands - 3 percent; Monocytes - 4 percent; Lymphocytes - 4 percent and Neutrophils - 58 percent (Bianco, 2012). Each of these WBC’s has specific functions. Neutrophils defend against bacterial infection whereas Eosinophils prevent parasitic infections. Basophils are dealing with allergic infections whereas the duty of Monocytes is to clean neutrophils. Lymphocytes play a major role in defending the body against various diseases including cancer.

The number of WBC’s in blood is the indicator of whether a person has some diseases or not. In other words, if the count of WBC shows an abnormal value (more or less than the normal value), that means the person has some kind of diseases. The normal count of WBC in one liter blood is between 4?109 and 1.1?1010. “A consistently high number of white blood cells is a symptom of Leukemia, a cancer of the blood. A Leukemia patient may have as many as 50,000 white blood cells in a single drop of blood”.

(White Blood Cells: Battling Blood Cells, 2012). “In diseases such as measles, pertussis and sepsis, the increase in white blood cells is so dramatic that the picture resembles leukemia” (White Blood Cell Count (WBC) and Differential, 2006) Whenever a germ or infection enters the body, the white blood cells snap to attention and race toward the scene of the crime. The white blood cells are continually on the lookout for signs of disease. When a germ does appear, the white blood cells have a variety of ways by which they can attack.

Some will produce protective antibodies that will overpower the germ. Others will surround and devour the bacteria (White Blood Cells: Battling Blood Cells, 2012). Neutrophils and monocytes use several mechanisms in their fight against the intrusion of foreign bodies in our body. “They kill bacteria by a process called phagocytosis, in which they completely surround the bacteria and digest them with digestive enzymes. They can phagocytize five to 20 bacteria in their lifetime”(Bianco, 2012).

Stroncek et al. (2011) pointed out that “White blood cells (WBCs) collected from hematopoietic stem cell are often given to patients who has problems in maintaining the normal WBC count in blood” (Stroncek et al., 2011, p.2647). It should be noted that bone marrow transplant is the most effective option in fighting against blood cancer. Stem cell research is one of the most rapidly developing fields in medical science and many people believe that the