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Ok, the
first thing to know is that new cells enter the blood
stream twice a day every day. So, if you were to graph
out the ages of the red cells in your blood stream, you
should get a straight horizontal line . In principle,
the same number of cells which die off today will be
replaced by new cells today.
Granulocytes - usually liver between 7 -10 days
Lymphocytes - varies by type. Some live 30-60 days;
others for years perhaps for a lifetime. Monocytes -
usually 5-7 days Platelets - usually 10 -12 days These
numbers do not include the amount of time it takes for
them to mature in the bone marrow. It only reflects the
time they live in the blood stream.
These
numbers assume that there is no stress on the particular
cell. For example, granulocytes may only life 2 days if
there is a significant infection. Platelets may only
live a few hours if there is a bleeding episode.
Aspirin
is only biologically active for about 20 minutes. So,
those platelets which are in the "area" of the aspirin
are permanently prevented from using a specific enzyme
pathway. Not all platelets are close enough to the
aspirin during its biological activity to be damaged so
this does not happen to the entire population of
platelets. It also doesn't happen only to young or old
platelets - it happens to those which are in the area.
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