Explain the process of blood clotting.
Answers
When a tissue is wounded or a blood vessel is ruptured due to some injury, the blood flows through it. If not checked, it may cause an excessive loss of blood. Sometimes, this immense loss of blood even leads to death. However, the body has its own natural device of preventing the loss of blood by forming a “Blood clot” which plugs the injury and stops further flow of blood, and also checks the entry of pathogenic microorganisms.
The process of blood clotting is a complex process which is mainly initiated and maintained by the platelets which circulate around the body along with other blood components.
In the region of injury, the platelets rupture and release a substance called thromboplastin. It converts protein pro-thrombin into thrombin. Vitamin K is essential for the formation of pro-thrombin in liver. Thrombin then changes soluble fibrinogen protein into fibrin. The latter undergoes rapid polymerization to form long fibres. The fibres form a network over the damaged (injured) region, entrap blood corpuscles and form a blood clot.