Plasma

Blood may look like a simple red liquid, but it is a tissue made from several specialised components working together. Its liquid component is plasma. Red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets are suspended in this plasma and carried through the blood vessels.

Blood carries materials around the body and helps protect it. It contains red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets suspended in plasma. These components have different structures because they do different jobs: carrying oxygen, defending against infection, transporting dissolved substances and limiting blood loss.

Blood must move materials between exchange surfaces, organs and individual cells. It is a tissue made from cells and cell fragments suspended in a liquid called plasma. Two parts are especially important for transport: red blood cells carry oxygen, while plasma carries the blood cells and a wide range of dissolved substances.

Blood carries materials between organs and body cells. Its liquid part, plasma, surrounds the blood cells. Red blood cells are suspended in it, alongside white blood cells and platelets.