Blood is abody fluid in thecirculatory system ofhumans and othervertebrates that delivers necessary substances such asnutrients andoxygen to thecells, and transportsmetabolic waste products away from those same cells.^[1]

Blood
Venous (darker) and arterial (brighter) blood
Identifiers
MeSH	D001769
TA98	A12.0.00.009
TA2	3892
FMA	9670
Anatomical terminology [edit on Wikidata]

Blood is composed of blood cells suspended inblood plasma. Plasma, which constitutes 55% of blood fluid, is mostlywater (92% by volume),^[2] and containsproteins,glucose, mineralions, andhormones. The blood cells are mainlyred blood cells (erythrocytes),white blood cells (leukocytes), and (in mammals)platelets (thrombocytes).^[3] The most abundant cells are red blood cells.^[4] These containhemoglobin, which facilitates oxygen transport by reversibly binding to it, increasing its solubility.^[5]Jawed vertebrates have anadaptive immune system, based largely on white blood cells. White blood cells help to resist infections and parasites. Platelets are important in theclotting of blood.

Blood is circulated around the body throughblood vessels by the pumping action of theheart. In animals withlungs,arterial blood carries oxygen from inhaled air to the tissues of the body, andvenous blood carries carbon dioxide, a waste product ofmetabolism produced by cells, from the tissues to the lungs to be exhaled. Blood is bright red when its hemoglobin is oxygenated and dark red when it isdeoxygenated.^[6][7]

Medical terms related to blood often begin withhemo-,hemato-,haemo- orhaemato- from the Greek wordαἷμα (haima) for "blood". In terms ofanatomy andhistology, blood is considered a specialized form ofconnective tissue,^[8] given its origin in the bones and the presence of potential molecular fibers in the form offibrinogen.^{[citation needed]}

Blood performs many important functions within the body, including:

• Supply ofoxygen to tissues (bound tohemoglobin, which is carried in red cells)
• Supply of nutrients such asglucose,amino acids, andfatty acids (dissolved in the blood or bound toplasma proteins (e.g.,blood lipids))
• Removal of waste such ascarbon dioxide,urea, andlactic acid
• Immunological functions, including circulation ofwhite blood cells, and detection of foreign material byantibodies
• Coagulation, the response to a broken blood vessel, the conversion of blood from a liquid to a semisolid gel to stop bleeding
• Messenger functions, including the transport ofhormones and the signaling oftissue damage
• Regulation of corebody temperature
• Hydraulic functions

Blood accounts for 7% of the human body weight,^[9][10] with an average density around 1060 kg/m³, very close to pure water's density of 1000 kg/m³.^[11] The average adult has ablood volume of roughly 5litres (11 US pt) or 1.3 gallons,^[10] which is composed of plasma andformed elements. The formed elements are the two types of blood cell orcorpuscle – thered blood cells, (erythrocytes) andwhite blood cells (leukocytes) – and the cell fragments calledplatelets^[12] that are involved in clotting. By volume, the red blood cells constitute about 45% of whole blood, the plasma about 54.3%, and white cells about 0.7%.

Whole blood (plasma and cells) exhibitsnon-Newtonianfluid dynamics.^[specify]

•  
  Human blood fractioned by centrifugation: Plasma (upper, yellow layer), buffy coat (middle, thin white layer) and erythrocyte layer (bottom, red layer) can be seen.
•  
  Blood circulation: Red = oxygenated, blue = deoxygenated
•  
  Illustration depicting formed elements of blood
•  
  Two tubes ofEDTA-anticoagulated blood.
  Left tube: after standing, the RBCs have settled at the bottom of the tube.
  Right tube: Freshly drawn blood

One microliter of blood contains:

• 4.7 to 6.1 million (male), 4.2 to 5.4 million (female)erythrocytes:^[13] Red blood cells contain the blood'shemoglobin and distribute oxygen. Mature red blood cells lack anucleus andorganelles in mammals. The red blood cells (together withendothelial vessel cells and other cells) are also marked byglycoproteins that define the differentblood types. The proportion of blood occupied by red blood cells is referred to as thehematocrit, and is normally about 45%. The combined surface area of all red blood cells of the human body would be roughly 2,000 times as great as the body's exterior surface.^[14]
• 4,000–11,000leukocytes:^[15] White blood cells are part of the body'simmune system; they destroy and remove old or aberrant cells and cellular debris, as well as attack infectious agents (pathogens) and foreign substances. The cancer of leukocytes is calledleukemia.
• 200,000–500,000thrombocytes:^[15] Also calledplatelets, they take part in blood clotting (coagulation). Fibrin from the coagulation cascade creates a mesh over theplatelet plug.

About 55% of blood isblood plasma, a fluid that is the blood's liquid medium, which by itself is straw-yellow in color. The blood plasma volume totals of 2.7–3.0 liters (2.8–3.2 quarts) in an average human. It is essentially anaqueous solution containing 92% water, 8% blood plasmaproteins, and trace amounts of other materials. Plasma circulates dissolved nutrients, such asglucose,amino acids, andfatty acids (dissolved in the blood or bound to plasma proteins), and removes waste products, such ascarbon dioxide,urea, andlactic acid.

Other importantcomponents include:

• Serum albumin
• Blood-clotting factors (to facilitatecoagulation)
• Immunoglobulins (antibodies)
• lipoprotein particles
• Various other proteins
• Variouselectrolytes (mainlysodium andchloride)

The termserum refers to plasma from which the clotting proteins have been removed. Most of the proteins remaining are albumin and immunoglobulins.

Blood pH is regulated to stay within the narrow range of 7.35 to 7.45, making it slightlybasic (compensation).^[17][18] Extra-cellular fluid in blood that has a pH below 7.35 is tooacidic, whereas blood pH above 7.45 is too basic.^[16] A pH below 6.9 or above 7.8 is usually lethal.^[16] Blood pH,partial pressure of oxygen (pO₂),partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO₂), andbicarbonate (HCO₃⁻) are carefully regulated by a number ofhomeostatic mechanisms, which exert their influence principally through therespiratory system and theurinary system to control theacid–base balance and respiration, which is called compensation.^[16] Anarterial blood gas test measures these. Plasma also circulateshormones transmitting their messages to various tissues. The list of normalreference ranges for various blood electrolytes is extensive.

Human blood is typical of that of mammals, although the precise details concerning cell numbers, size,protein structure, and so on, vary somewhat between species. In non-mammalian vertebrates, however, there are some key differences:^[19]

• Red blood cells of non-mammalian vertebrates are flattened and ovoid in form, and retain their cell nuclei.
• There is considerable variation in the types and proportions of white blood cells; for example, acidophils are generally more common than in humans.
• Platelets are unique to mammals; in other vertebrates, small nucleated, spindle cells calledthrombocytes are responsible for blood clotting instead.

Blood is circulated around the body throughblood vessels by the pumping action of theheart. In humans, blood is pumped from the strongleft ventricle of the heart througharteries to peripheraltissues and returns to the rightatrium of the heart throughveins. It then enters the rightventricle and is pumped through thepulmonary artery to thelungs and returns to the left atrium through thepulmonary veins. Blood then enters the left ventricle to be circulated again. Arterial blood carries oxygen from inhaled air to all of the cells of the body, andvenous blood carries carbon dioxide, a waste product ofmetabolism bycells, to the lungs to be exhaled. However, one exception includes pulmonary arteries, which contain the most deoxygenated blood in the body, while the pulmonary veins contain oxygenated blood.

Additional return flow may be generated by the movement ofskeletal muscles, which can compress veins and push blood through the valves in veins toward theright atrium.

The blood circulation was described byWilliam Harvey in 1628.^[20]

In vertebrates, the various cells of blood are made in thebone marrow in a process calledhematopoiesis, which includeserythropoiesis, the production of red blood cells; andmyelopoiesis, the production of white blood cells and platelets. During childhood, almost every human bone produces red blood cells; as adults, red blood cell production is limited to the larger bones: the bodies of the vertebrae, the breastbone (sternum), the ribcage, the pelvic bones, and the bones of the upper arms and legs. In addition, during childhood, thethymus gland, found in themediastinum, is an important source ofT lymphocytes.^[21]The proteinaceous component of blood (including clotting proteins) is produced predominantly by theliver, while hormones are produced by theendocrine glands and the watery fraction is regulated by thehypothalamus and maintained by thekidney.

Healthyerythrocytes have a plasma life of about 120 days before they are degraded by thespleen, and theKupffer cells in the liver. The liver also clears some proteins, lipids, and amino acids. The kidney actively secretes waste products into theurine.

About 98.5%^[22] of theoxygen in a sample of arterial blood in a healthy human breathing air at sea-level pressure is chemically combined with thehemoglobin. About 1.5% is physically dissolved in the other blood liquids and not connected to hemoglobin. The hemoglobin molecule is the primary transporter of oxygen inmammals and many other species. Hemoglobin has an oxygen binding capacity between 1.36 and 1.40 ml O₂ per gram hemoglobin,^[23] which increases the totalblood oxygen capacity seventyfold,^[24] compared to if oxygen solely were carried by its solubility of 0.03 ml O₂ per liter blood per mm Hg partial pressure of oxygen (about 100 mm Hg in arteries).^[24]

With the exception of pulmonary andumbilical arteries and their corresponding veins, arteries carryoxygenated blood away from the heart and deliver it to the body viaarterioles andcapillaries, where the oxygen is consumed; afterwards,venules and veins carrydeoxygenated blood back to the heart.

Under normal conditions in adult humans at rest, hemoglobin in blood leaving the lungs is about 98–99%saturated with oxygen, achieving an oxygen delivery between 950 and 1150 ml/min^[25] to the body. In a healthy adult at rest, oxygen consumption is approximately 200–250 ml/min,^[25] and deoxygenated blood returning to the lungs is still roughly 75%^[26][27] (70 to 78%)^[25] saturated. Increased oxygen consumption during sustained exercise reduces the oxygen saturation of venous blood, which can reach less than 15% in a trained athlete; although breathing rate and blood flow increase to compensate, oxygen saturation in arterial blood can drop to 95% or less under these conditions.^[28] Oxygen saturation this low is considered dangerous in an individual at rest (for instance, during surgery under anesthesia). Sustained hypoxia (oxygenation less than 90%), is dangerous to health, and severe hypoxia (saturations less than 30%) may be rapidly fatal.^[29]

Afetus, receiving oxygen via theplacenta, is exposed to much lower oxygen pressures (about 21% of the level found in an adult's lungs), so fetuses produce another form of hemoglobin with a much higher affinity for oxygen (hemoglobin F) to function under these conditions.^[30]

CO₂ is carried in blood in three different ways. (The exact percentages vary depending whether it is arterial or venous blood). Most of it (about 70%) is converted to bicarbonate ionsHCO−3 by the enzymecarbonic anhydrase in the red blood cells by the reactionCO₂ + H₂O → H₂CO₃ → H⁺ + HCO−3; about 7% is dissolved in the plasma; and about 23% is bound to hemoglobin ascarbamino compounds.^[31][32]

Hemoglobin, the main oxygen-carrying molecule in red blood cells, carries both oxygen and carbon dioxide. However, the CO₂ bound to hemoglobin does not bind to the same site as oxygen. Instead, it combines with the N-terminal groups on the four globin chains. However, because ofallosteric effects on the hemoglobin molecule, the binding of CO₂ decreases the amount of oxygen that is bound for a given partial pressure of oxygen. The decreased binding to carbon dioxide in the blood due to increased oxygen levels is known as theHaldane effect, and is important in the transport of carbon dioxide from the tissues to the lungs. A rise in the partial pressure of CO₂ or a lower pH will cause offloading of oxygen from hemoglobin, which is known as theBohr effect.

Some oxyhemoglobin loses oxygen and becomes deoxyhemoglobin. Deoxyhemoglobin binds most of the hydrogen ions as it has a much greater affinity for more hydrogen than does oxyhemoglobin.

In mammals, blood is in equilibrium withlymph, which is continuously formed in tissues from blood by capillary ultrafiltration. Lymph is collected by a system of small lymphatic vessels and directed to thethoracic duct, which drains into the leftsubclavian vein, where lymph rejoins the systemic blood circulation.

Blood circulation transports heat throughout the body, and adjustments to this flow are an important part ofthermoregulation. Increasing blood flow to the surface (e.g., during warm weather or strenuous exercise) causes warmer skin, resulting in faster heat loss. In contrast, when the external temperature is low, blood flow to the extremities and surface of the skin is reduced and to prevent heat loss and is circulated to the important organs of the body, preferentially.

Rate of blood flow varies greatly between different organs. Liver has the most abundant blood supply with an approximate flow of 1350 ml/min. Kidney and brain are the second and the third most supplied organs, with 1100 ml/min and ~700 ml/min, respectively.^[33]

Relative rates of blood flow per 100 g of tissue are different, with kidney, adrenal gland and thyroid being the first, second and third most supplied tissues, respectively.^[33]

The restriction of blood flow can also be used in specialized tissues to cause engorgement, resulting in anerection of that tissue; examples are theerectile tissue in thepenis andclitoris.

Another example of a hydraulic function is thejumping spider, in which blood forced into the legs under pressure causes them to straighten for a powerful jump, without the need for bulky muscular legs.^[34]

Hemoglobin is the principal determinant of the color of blood (hemochrome). Each molecule has four heme groups, and their interaction with various molecules alters the exact color. Arterial blood and capillary blood are bright red, as oxygen imparts a strong red color to the heme group. Deoxygenated blood is a darker shade of red; this is present in veins, and can be seen duringblood donation and when venous blood samples are taken. This is because the spectrum of light absorbed by hemoglobin differs between the oxygenated and deoxygenated states.^[35]

Blood incarbon monoxide poisoning is bright red, becausecarbon monoxide causes the formation ofcarboxyhemoglobin. Incyanide poisoning, the body cannot use oxygen, so the venous blood remains oxygenated, increasing the redness. There are some conditions affecting the heme groups present in hemoglobin that can make the skin appear blue – a symptom calledcyanosis. If the heme is oxidized,methemoglobin, which is more brownish and cannot transport oxygen, is formed. In the rare conditionsulfhemoglobinemia, arterial hemoglobin is partially oxygenated, and appears dark red with a bluish hue.

Veins close to the surface of the skin appear blue for a variety of reasons. However, the factors that contribute to this alteration ofcolor perception are related to the light-scattering properties of the skin and the processing of visual input by thevisual cortex, rather than the actual color of the venous blood.^[36]

Skinks in the genusPrasinohaema have green blood due to a buildup of the waste productbiliverdin.^[37]

• Disorders of volume
  • Injury can cause blood loss through bleeding.^[38] A healthy adult can lose almost 20% of blood volume (1 L) before the first symptom, restlessness, begins, and 40% of volume (2 L) beforeshock sets in.Thrombocytes are important for bloodcoagulation and the formation of blood clots, which can stop bleeding. Trauma to the internal organs or bones can causeinternal bleeding, which can sometimes be severe.
  • Dehydration can reduce the blood volume by reducing the water content of the blood. This would rarely result in shock (apart from the very severe cases) but may result inorthostatic hypotension andfainting.
• Disorders of circulation
  • Shock is the ineffectiveperfusion of tissues, and can be caused by a variety of conditions including blood loss, infection, poorcardiac output.
  • Atherosclerosis reduces the flow of blood through arteries, because atheroma lines arteries and narrows them. Atheroma tends to increase with age, and its progression can be compounded by many causes including smoking,hypertension, excess circulating lipids (hyperlipidemia), anddiabetes mellitus.
  • Coagulation can form athrombosis, which can obstruct vessels.
  • Problems with blood composition, the pumping action of the heart, or narrowing of blood vessels can have many consequences including hypoxia (lack of oxygen) of the tissues supplied. The termischemia refers to tissue that is inadequately perfused with blood, andinfarction refers to tissue death (necrosis), which can occur when the blood supply has been blocked (or is very inadequate).

• Anemia
  • Insufficient red cell mass (anemia) can be the result of bleeding, blood disorders likethalassemia, ornutritional deficiencies, and may require one or moreblood transfusions. Anemia can also be due to agenetic disorder in which the red blood cells do not function effectively. Anemia can be confirmed by ablood test if the hemoglobin value is less than 13.5 gm/dl in men or less than 12.0 gm/dl in women.^[39] Several countries haveblood banks to fill the demand for transfusable blood. A person receiving a blood transfusion must have ablood type compatible with that of the donor.
  • Sickle-cell anemia
• Disorders of cell proliferation
  • Leukemia is a group ofcancers of the blood-forming tissues and cells.
  • Non-cancerous overproduction of red cells (polycythemia vera) or platelets (essential thrombocytosis) may bepremalignant.
  • Myelodysplastic syndromes involve ineffective production of one or more cell lines.
• Disorders of coagulation
  • Hemophilia is agenetic illness that causes dysfunction in one of the blood'sclotting mechanisms. This can allow otherwise inconsequential wounds to be life-threatening, but more commonly results inhemarthrosis, or bleeding into joint spaces, which can be crippling.
  • Ineffective or insufficient platelets can also result incoagulopathy (bleeding disorders).
  • Hypercoagulable state (thrombophilia) results from defects in regulation of platelet or clotting factor function, and can cause thrombosis.
• Infectious disorders of blood
  • Blood is an important vector of infection. HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is transmitted through contact with blood, semen or other body secretions of an infected person.Hepatitis B andC are transmitted primarily through blood contact. Owing toblood-borne infections, bloodstained objects are treated as abiohazard.
  • Bacterial infection of the blood isbacteremia orsepsis. Viral Infection is viremia.Malaria andtrypanosomiasis are blood-borne parasitic infections.

Substances other than oxygen can bind to hemoglobin; in some cases, this can cause irreversible damage to the body. Carbon monoxide, for example, is extremely dangerous when carried to the blood via the lungs by inhalation, because carbon monoxide irreversibly binds to hemoglobin to form carboxyhemoglobin, so that less hemoglobin is free to bind oxygen, and fewer oxygen molecules can be transported throughout the blood. This can cause suffocation. A fire burning in an enclosed room with poor ventilation presents a dangerous hazard, since it can create a build-up of carbon monoxide in the air. Some carbon monoxide binds to hemoglobin when smoking tobacco.^[40]

Blood for transfusion is obtained from human donors byblood donation and stored in ablood bank. There are many differentblood types in humans, theABO blood group system, and theRhesus blood group system being the most important. Transfusion of blood of an incompatible blood group may cause severe, often fatal, complications, socrossmatching is done to ensure that a compatible blood product is transfused.

Other blood products administeredintravenously are platelets, blood plasma, cryoprecipitate, and specific coagulation factor concentrates.

Many forms of medication (fromantibiotics tochemotherapy) are administered intravenously, as they are not readily or adequately absorbed by the digestive tract.

After severe acute blood loss, liquid preparations, generically known as plasma expanders, can be given intravenously, either solutions of salts (NaCl, KCl, CaCl₂ etc.) at physiological concentrations, or colloidal solutions, such as dextrans,human serum albumin, or fresh frozen plasma. In these emergency situations, a plasma expander is a more effective life-saving procedure than a blood transfusion, because the metabolism of transfused red blood cells does not restart immediately after a transfusion.

In modernevidence-based medicine, bloodletting is used in management of a few rare diseases, includinghemochromatosis andpolycythemia. However,bloodletting andleeching were common unvalidated interventions used until the 19th century, as many diseases were incorrectly thought to be due to an excess of blood, according toHippocratic medicine.

Englishblood (Old Englishblod) derives fromGermanic and has cognates with a similar range of meanings in all other Germanic languages (e.g. GermanBlut, Swedishblod, Gothicblōþ). There is no acceptedIndo-European etymology.^[41]

Robin Fåhræus (a Swedish physician who devised theerythrocyte sedimentation rate) suggested that the Ancient Greek system ofhumorism, wherein the body was thought to contain four distinct bodily fluids (associated with different temperaments), were based upon the observation of blood clotting in a transparent container. When blood is drawn in a glass container and left undisturbed for about an hour, four different layers can be seen. A dark clot forms at the bottom (the "black bile"). Above the clot is a layer of red blood cells (the "blood"). Above this is a whitish layer of white blood cells (the "phlegm"). The top layer is clear yellow serum (the "yellow bile").^{[42][failed verification]}

In general, Greek thinkers believed that blood was made from food. Plato and Aristotle are two important sources of evidence for this view, but it dates back to Homer'sIliad.^[43] Plato thinks that fire in our bellies transform food into blood.^[44] Plato believes that the movements of air in the body as we exhale and inhale carry the fire as it transforms our food into blood.^[45] Aristotle believed that food is concocted into blood in the heart and transformed into our body's matter.^[46]

The ABO blood group system was discovered in the year 1900 byKarl Landsteiner.Jan Janský is credited with the first classification of blood into the four types (A, B, AB, and O) in 1907, which remains in use today. In 1907 the firstblood transfusion was performed that used the ABO system to predict compatibility.^[47] The first non-direct transfusion was performed on 27 March 1914. The Rhesus factor was discovered in 1937.

Due to its importance to life, blood is associated with a large number of beliefs. One of the most basic is the use of blood as a symbol for family relationships through birth/parentage; to be "related by blood" is to be related by ancestry or descendence, rather than marriage. This bears closely tobloodlines, and sayings such as "blood is thicker than water" and "bad blood", as well as "Blood brother".

Blood is given particular emphasis in theIslamic,Jewish, andChristian religions, becauseLeviticus 17:11 says "the life of a creature is in the blood." This phrase is part of the Levitical law forbidding the drinking of blood or eating meat with the blood still intact instead of being poured off.

Mythic references to blood can sometimes be connected to the life-giving nature of blood, seen in such events as childbirth, as contrasted with the blood of injury or death.

In manyindigenous Australian Aboriginal peoples' traditions,ochre (particularly red) and blood, both high in iron content and consideredMaban, are applied to the bodies of dancers for ritual. As Lawlor states:

In many Aboriginal rituals and ceremonies, red ochre is rubbed all over the naked bodies of the dancers. In secret, sacred male ceremonies, blood extracted from the veins of the participant's arms is exchanged and rubbed on their bodies. Red ochre is used in similar ways in less-secret ceremonies. Blood is also used to fasten the feathers of birds onto people's bodies. Bird feathers contain a protein that is highly magnetically sensitive.^[48]

Lawlor comments that blood employed in this fashion is held by these peoples to attune the dancers to the invisible energetic realm of theDreamtime. Lawlor then connects these invisible energetic realms andmagnetic fields, because iron ismagnetic.

Among theGermanic tribes, blood was used during their sacrifices; theBlóts. The blood was considered to have the power of its originator, and, after the butchering, the blood was sprinkled on the walls, on the statues of the gods, and on the participants themselves. This act of sprinkling blood was calledblóedsian inOld English, and the terminology was borrowed by theRoman Catholic Church becomingto bless andblessing. TheHittite word for blood,ishar was a cognate to words for "oath" and "bond", seeIshara.TheAncient Greeks believed that the blood of the gods,ichor, was a substance that was poisonous to mortals.

As a relic of Germanic Law, thecruentation, an ordeal where the corpse of the victim was supposed to start bleeding in the presence of the murderer, was used until the early 17th century.^[49]

InGenesis 9:4, God prohibitedNoah and his sons from eating blood (seeNoahide Law). This command continued to be observed by theEastern Orthodox Church.

It is also found in the Bible that when the Angel of Death came around to the Hebrew house that the first-born child would not die if the angel saw lamb's blood wiped across the doorway.

At theCouncil of Jerusalem, theapostles prohibited certain Christians from consuming blood – this is documented in Acts 15:20 and 29. This chapter specifies a reason (especially in verses 19–21): It was to avoid offending Jews who had become Christians, because the Mosaic Law Code prohibited the practice.

Christ's blood is the means for theatonement of sins. Also, "... the blood of Jesus Christ his [God] Son cleanseth us from all sin." (1 John 1:7), "... Unto him [God] that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood." (Revelation 1:5), and "And they overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb [Jesus the Christ], and by the word of their testimony ..." (Revelation 12:11).

Some Christian churches, including Roman Catholicism,Eastern Orthodoxy,Oriental Orthodoxy, and theAssyrian Church of the East teach that, when consecrated, theEucharistic wineactually becomes theblood of Jesus for worshippers to drink. Thus in the consecrated wine, Jesus becomes spiritually and physically present. This teaching is rooted inthe Last Supper, as written in the four gospels of the Bible, in which Jesus stated to hisdisciples that the bread that they ate was his body, and the wine was his blood."This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you." (Luke 22:20).

Most forms of Protestantism, especially those of aMethodist orPresbyterian lineage, teach that the wine is no more than a symbol of the blood of Christ, who is spiritually but not physically present.Lutheran theology teaches that the body and blood ispresent together "in, with, and under" the bread and wine of the Eucharistic feast.

InJudaism, animal blood may not be consumed even in the smallest quantity (Leviticus 3:17 and elsewhere); this is reflected in Jewishdietary laws (Kashrut). Blood is purged from meat by rinsing and soaking in water (to loosen clots),salting and then rinsing with water again several times.^[50] Eggs must also be checked and any blood spots removed before consumption.^[51] Although blood from fish is biblically kosher, it is rabbinically forbidden to consume fish blood to avoid the appearance of breaking the Biblical prohibition.^[52]

Another ritual involving blood involves the covering of the blood offowl andgame after slaughtering (Leviticus 17:13); the reason given by theTorah is: "Because the life of the animal is [in] its blood" (ibid 17:14). In relation to human beings,Kabbalah expounds on this verse that theanimal soul of a person is in the blood, and that physical desires stem from it.

Likewise, the mystical reason for salting temple sacrifices and slaughtered meat is to remove the blood of animal-like passions from the person. By removing the animal's blood, the animal energies and life-force contained in the blood are removed, making the meat fit for human consumption.^[53]

Consumption of food containing blood is forbidden byIslamic dietary laws. This is derived from the statement in theQur'an, suraAl-Ma'ida (5:3): "Forbidden to you (for food) are: dead meat, blood, the flesh of swine, and that on which has been invoked the name of other than Allah."

Blood is considered unclean, hence there are specific methods to obtain physical and ritual status of cleanliness once bleeding has occurred. Specific rules and prohibitions apply tomenstruation, postnatal bleeding and irregular vaginal bleeding. When an animal has been slaughtered, the animal's neck is cut in a way to ensure that the spine is not severed, hence the brain may send commands to the heart to pump blood to it for oxygen. In this way, blood is removed from the body, and the meat is generally now safe to cook and eat. In modern times, blood transfusions are generally not considered against the rules.

Based on their interpretation of scriptures such as Acts 15:28, 29 ("Keep abstaining...from blood."), manyJehovah's Witnesses neither consume blood nor accept transfusions of whole blood or its major components: red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets (thrombocytes), and plasma. Members may personally decide whether they will accept medical procedures that involve their own blood or substances that are further fractionated from the four major components.^[54]

Vampires are mythical creatures that drink blood directly for sustenance, usually with a preference for human blood. Cultures all over the world have myths of this kind; for example the 'Nosferatu' legend, a human who achievesdamnation and immortality by drinking the blood of others, originates from Eastern European folklore.Ticks,leeches, femalemosquitoes,vampire bats, and an assortment of other natural creatures do consume the blood of other animals, but only bats are associated with vampires. This has no relation to vampire bats, which areNew World creatures discovered well after the origins of the European myths.

In invertebrates, a body fluid analogous to blood called hemolymph is found, the main difference being that hemolymph is not contained in a closed circulatory system. Hemolymph may function to carry oxygen, although hemoglobin is not necessarily used.Crustaceans andmollusks usehemocyanin instead of hemoglobin.^[55] In most insects, their hemolymph does not contain oxygen-carrying molecules because their bodies are small enough for theirtracheal system to suffice for supplying oxygen.

Blood residue can helpforensic investigators identify weapons, reconstruct a criminal action, and link suspects to the crime. Throughbloodstain pattern analysis, forensic information can also be gained from the spatial distribution of bloodstains.

Blood residue analysis is also a technique used inarcheology.

Blood is one of the body fluids that has been used in art.^[56] In particular, the performances ofViennese ActionistHermann Nitsch,Istvan Kantor,Franko B,Lennie Lee,Ron Athey,Yang Zhichao,Lucas Abela andKira O'Reilly, along with the photography ofAndres Serrano, have incorporated blood as a prominent visual element.Marc Quinn has made sculptures using frozen blood, including a cast of his own head made using his own blood.

The termblood is used ingenealogical circles to refer to one'sancestry,origins, andethnic background as in the wordbloodline. Other terms where blood is used in a family history sense areblue-blood,royal blood,mixed-blood andblood relative.

• Blood Groups and Red Cell Antigens. Free online book atNCBI Bookshelf ID: NBK2261
• Blood onIn Our Time at theBBC
• Blood Photomicrographs