Definition

Noun 1. The liquid component of blood: Blood plasma is the clear, straw-colored, liquid portion of blood that remains after all blood cells (red cells, white cells, and platelets) and other cellular components are removed. It is the medium in which these cells are suspended and transported throughout the body. 2. A transport medium and reservoir: It serves as a transport medium for nutrients (like glucose and amino acids), hormones, waste products, antibodies, clotting factors, and proteins. It also helps maintain blood pressure and volume, and regulates body temperature.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • After an injury, the patient received a transfusion of blood plasma to help with clotting.
  • The laboratory separated the blood plasma from the red blood cells by centrifugation.
  • Antibodies found in blood plasma are crucial for the body's immune response.

Advanced Usage

• "Plasma donation": The process of giving blood specifically for the collection of its plasma component, often used to create therapies for patients with immune deficiencies, bleeding disorders, or burns.
  • He regularly participates in plasma donation to help medical research.
• "Plasma fractionation": The industrial process of separating plasma into its various constituent proteins, such as albumin, immunoglobulins, and clotting factors.
  • The plasma fractionation plant produces life-saving medications from donated blood.

Variants and Related Words

• Plasma (noun): The more common, shortened form of "blood plasma" used in medical and scientific contexts.
  • The test measures the level of glucose in the plasma.
• Plasmapheresis (noun): A medical procedure that involves the removal, treatment, and return of blood plasma from the circulation.
  • The patient underwent plasmapheresis to remove harmful antibodies from their blood.
• Serum (noun): Blood plasma with the clotting factors (like fibrinogen) removed. It is the fluid that remains after blood has clotted.
  • The serum sample was used for the cholesterol test.

Synonyms

• Blood fluid (general term)
• Plasma (standard abbreviation)

Related Phrases and Compounds

• Fresh frozen plasma (FFP): Plasma that has been separated from whole blood and frozen to preserve its clotting factors for transfusion.
  • The trauma protocol called for an immediate infusion of fresh frozen plasma.
• Plasma protein: Any of the proteins dissolved in blood plasma, such as albumin, globulins, and fibrinogen.
  • Low levels of plasma proteins can lead to edema.

Noun

1. the colorless watery fluid of the blood and lymph that contains no cells, but in which the blood cells (erythrocytes, leukocytes, and thrombocytes) are suspended