[29] Biochemistry of Blood Clotting Flashcards
What is the role of blood clotting?
To prevent excessive bleeding after injuries.
What is another name for blood clotting?
Coagulation.
What initiates the clotting process?
Damage to the blood vessel’s endothelium.
What are platelets?
Small blood cells that help in the blood clotting process.
What is the role of platelets in blood clotting?
They stick to the damaged area and form a plug.
What are the two pathways of the clotting process?
- Intrinsic pathway
- Extrinsic pathway
What is the intrinsic pathway?
It’s activated by trauma within the vascular system and is slow.
What is the extrinsic pathway?
It’s activated by external trauma that causes blood to escape from the vascular system and is fast.
How do the intrinsic and extrinsic pathways lead to clotting?
They both activate the final common pathway, which leads to the formation of fibrin.
What is fibrin?
A protein that forms a mesh to stabilize the platelet plug.
What are clotting factors?
Proteins in the blood that work together in the clotting process.
What is fibrinogen?
A soluble protein in blood plasma that is converted into fibrin during clotting.
What is thrombin?
An enzyme that converts fibrinogen to fibrin during coagulation.
What is the role of calcium in the clotting process?
It’s needed for the clotting factors to work correctly.
What is prothrombin?
A protein present in blood plasma that is converted into active thrombin during coagulation.
What is hemostasis?
The process that causes bleeding to stop, it includes vasoconstriction, temporary blockage of a break by a platelet plug, and blood coagulation.
What is an anticoagulant?
A substance that prevents the clotting of blood.
What is a thrombus?
A blood clot that forms in a vessel and remains there.
What is an embolus?
A blood clot, air bubble, piece of fatty deposit, or other object which has been carried in the bloodstream to lodge in a vessel and cause an embolism.
What is an embolism?
Obstruction of a blood vessel by a clot of blood or other substances.
