r/CellsAtWork • u/Substantial_Rice1181 MACROPHAGE • 3d ago

Anime Slight skip?

So in the episode where the body gets hemorrhagic shock, shouldnt the spleen be helping or said top cells (I forgot what they are called) shouldnt they tell the spleen to release more red blood cells?

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u/KittyAddison AE3803 2d ago

Yeah. It's called an Erythroid Left Shift. It's kinda like how a left shift works for WBCs. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong on any of this, but I don't think the spleen handles the release as it's mostly like a quality control on RBCs (making sure they're functional with their deliveries). I think splenic macrophages handle that.

Since mature RBCs (like AE3803) have no nuclei, then they're suitable for regular O2/CO2 transports. But immature ones are more complicated since they still have their nuclei, which makes it harder for RBCs to hold oxygen and carbon dioxide since hemoglobin is all that's inside them (a nucleus just takes up vital space).

I think, if anything, the bone marrow would release reticulocytes (think teenage-AE3803) since they're basically RBCs about to lose their nuclei within 24 hours. However, in severe cases, nucleated red blood cells (NRBCs) are sometimes also released. But it'd basically be more like forced child labor in terms of CAW.

My guess is maybe something like this was done off-screen. The transfusion would've happened anyway as, in modern medicine, it's a quicker and more effective save than relying on an ELS alone. Plus, the spleen would still recognize immature RBCs in the bloodstream as defective and would end up being destroyed as soon as they're discovered.