What Do Red Blood Cells Do?
Reviewed: Dr. Gromatzky
2. Platelets
Another type of blood cell that is very important to us is platelets. These are small cells that flow through the blood and don’t really do much. At least, that is, until we cut ourselves or pick up another injury. Even a small cut could cause a dangerous amount of blood to leak out from our body, but platelets prevent that from happening.
When there is a cut, messages are sent that cause the platelets to begin to stick together, with help from certain chemicals. When these platelets stick together en masse, they form a clot, and this helps to plug any holes until the damage has been repaired.
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