Blood Groups & Transfusions
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Transcript Blood Groups & Transfusions
Pages 349-353
When blood is given intraveneously
Usually donated blood
Transfusions are given for:
Blood loss due to injury
Surgery
To supplement your own blood
Blood cells have their own antigens
Genetically determined proteins
Allows us to determine “self”; a form of self defense
Transfusions must be compatible w/recipient
Those individuals with the same antigens
What happens if the blood is incompatible?
◦ Your body will assume the transfused blood is an
invader
Antibodies will bind to the (foreign) antigens
on the donor RBC
Antibodies are proteins specialized to recognize
foreign substances and provide immunity against
them
Incompatible transfusions cause agglutination
◦ clumping of the foreign RBCs
RBCs burst open! (hemolysis)
releases hemoglobin into bloodstream
Hemoglobin can block kidney tubules
Can cause kidney failure and death
Represented by multiple alleles
Two of these are co-dominant
The Rhesus factor is a protein that may exist
on the surface of the cell – this results in a
positive blood type
The ABO Blood groups:
Type
Type
Type
Type
A (Both A antigens)
B (Both B antigens)
AB (Both A and B antigens)
O (neither antigen is present; recessive)
Rh (rhesus) factor ( + or - ):
Positive or negative for presence on the surface of
the RBC
Pregnant women risk destruction of baby’s RBCs as the
body attempts to reject a baby that doesn’t match
mother’s rhesus factor
Differences in Rh factor between baby and
mother
Most of the time, the first baby is fine
Antibodies are built up after first baby
This makes the second pregnancy extremely high risk
If the baby survives pregnancy:
the destruction of RBCs will result in:
Hemolytic disease of the newborn
Jaundice
Anemia
Enlarged liver/spleen
To counteract this problem:
◦ Incompatible mothers are given an immune serum
called RhoGAM to prevent this immune response