Blood Types Chart This article provides a comprehensive blood types chart and explains blood transfusion compatibility issues. It also discusses the criteria by which these types are decided. Blood is the river of life, which courses through our bodies. It is the medium through which nutrients and oxygen are transported to each and every part of the body and waste is taken out. It also functions as the defense mechanism, through antigens present in red blood cells and the white blood cells. When blood transfusion was first attempted, it was discovered that there are blood types. You cannot randomly transfer blood from one man to another, without checking if their types match. This article explains why its important to have a blood type test and how a group is determined. A ready reference, in the form of a chart, has been provided, which indicates blood transfusion compatibility. How is a Blood Type Determined? To understand why there are blood types and how they are classified, one must understand what it is primarily made of. It is made up of three components: Plasma Red blood cells White Blood Cells The red blood cells primarily decide your blood type. The type is decided by certain inherited substances on the surface of red blood cells, called Antibody Generators or Antigens for short. Antibodies constitute the defense mechanism of the body. They are a sophisticated offensive mechanism of the body, against pathogens or germs. Like guided missiles, these antibodies are generated to exterminate specific target pathogens. The type of antigens that occur on your red blood cell surface are inherited from your mother and father. These antigens have the blueprint for creation of antibodies. So, antigens are important parts of red blood cells and they determine the blood type. These antigens may be carbohydrates, glycoproteins, glycolipids, or carbohydrate coatings on the red blood cells. One can classify blood into different types, based on the presence or absence of these antigens on the red blood cells. There are 30 different blood group systems, based on the occurrence of different antigens. ABO Blood Group System With Rh Factor A complete blood group classification system will have to involve the recognition of about 30 types of antigens on the red blood cells. However, the most widely used classification system is a combination of the ABO and the Rh (Rhesus Factor) classification systems. Under this system, the type is decided by presence or absence of A-Antigens and B-Antigens. The Rhesus factor classification system is based on presence or absence of the Rhesus-D antigen. The chart provided here is based on a combined ABO and Rhesus factor based system. Blood Types Chart ABO blood group system. Under this system, there are four blood groups, as you can see in the illustration above. They are as follows: Type A: Red blood cells have the A-antigen, which generates the Anti-B antibodies Type B: Red blood cells have the B-antigen and generate Anti-A antibodies Type AB: Red Blood cells have both, A-antigen and B-antigen but generate neither Anti-A nor Anti-B antibodies Type O: Red Blood cells have neither A-antigen, nor B-antigen, but generates both Anti-A and Anti-B antibodies The Rhesus Factor There is one more important antigen on the surface of red blood cells, which also needs to be considered. It is called the Rhesus-D antigen. This antigen mechanism is again inherited from your mother or father. This adds another qualifier to a blood type under the ABO system. A person with any of the four types may be Rhesus D positive (Rh+) or Rhesus D negative (Rh-). So, that increases number of types to eight (A Rh+, A Rh-, B Rh+, B Rh-, AB Rh+, AB Rh-, O Rh+, O Rh-). Although, the antigen mechanism is inherited from your father and mother, it lies dormant until there is a need for it to get into action. The anti-A antibodies and Anti B-antibodies are created during the first months after birth, when an infants gut is infected by bacteria, through food. The Rh-D antibody is generated through placental sensitization (that is when an Rh+ mother exchanges blood with the infant at birth) or through blood transfusion. Compatible Types for Transfusion The following chart is intended to convey the compatibility issues during blood transfusion. It shows which type of blood can be safely transfused to which other blood type. That is, it shows which types can be donors to recipients, with other blood types. There are three types of blood transfusions that can be made, according to the blood components that are donated (Red Blood Cells, Plasma, or Whole Blood). The compatibility for all three is different, as shown in the table below. Here, the Rhesus factor is also taken into consideration. Recipients Blood Type Red Blood Cell Donors Whole Blood Donors Plasma Donors O Rh+ O Rh+, O Rh- O Rh+, O Rh- Any of types O, A, B, or AB O Rh- O Rh- O Rh- Any of O, A, B or AB A Rh+ A Rh+, A Rh-, O Rh+, O Rh- A Rh+, A Rh- Any of types A or AB A Rh- A Rh-, O Rh- A Rh- Any of types A, AB B Rh+ B Rh+, B Rh-, O Rh+, O Rh- B Rh+, B Rh- Any of types B or AB B Rh- B Rh-, O Rh- B Rh- Any of types B or AB AB Rh+ A Rh+, A Rh-, B Rh+, B Rh-, AB Rh+, AB Rh-, O Rh+, O Rh- AB Rh+, AB Rh- Any of type AB AB Rh- AB Rh-, A Rh-, B Rh-, O Rh- AB Rh- AB There are certain rare blood types which have certain rare antigens. If you compare their percentage around the world, O Rh+ blood type is the most common and AB Rh- is the rarest. As you can see, in the chart above, AB Rh+ is the universal recipient for red blood cells. O Rh-, although previously considered to be a universal donor of red blood cells, is no longer considered so, due to transfusion compatibility problems. Donate blood at least two times a year, as it can save lives of many people, who are in need of it. Read more at Buzzle: buzzle/articles/blood-types-chart.html
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 17:10:41 +0000
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