The Story of a Thrombocyte

               The name is Thrombo, a fellow Thrombocyte that lives in your blood. You may know me better as a platelet or a fragment of a megakaryocyte, a large bone marrow cell. There’s roughly 150,000 – 450,000 thrombocytes in a single microliter of your blood. My job is to assist in inflammation, tumor growth, natural and adaptive immunity, Hemostasis and Thrombosis. Those last two tasks of mine relate mostly to the coagulation and or clotting of your blood. I’m best described as irregular and disc shaped. We are used in many physiological processes within your body. A proper platelet count is an important part of your health. A low platelet count, Thrombocytopenia, or a high platelet count, Thrombocytosis, may be an indication of some sort of health issue. This health issue can be anything from minimal to something that is life threatening. We can be counted in three diverse ways, two of the three ways identified as electronic counting. There is Hemacytometer, voltage-pulse and electro-optical counting, electronic counting of us Thrombocytes is the most common. I have thousands and thousands of relatives. In both ways of electronic counting of platelets, diluted blood is passed through an electronic counter. The instrument is very specific, only counting particles of certain sizes ignoring any clumps of thrombocytes that exceed its size limit or any particle too small. There is no exact way to properly count each and ever platelet in a single drop of blood as there are hundreds of thousands. However, if you wish to receive the most accurate number in a platelet count, it is best to do it as soon as blood is drawn. If left too long, the platelets after leaving the body may change and vary in size and shapes. On top of that white blood cells may end up filtering out some thrombocytes or if a red blood cell was to burst, its debris may be counted as a platelet. This goes for Hemacytometer counting method as well. There is to be a drop of diluted blood on Hemacytometer slide, which will then be viewed at a specific contrast in a Hemacytometer microscope. It is easy to mistake other particles or cells as one of us Thrombocytes. It’s more likely to get the wrong number of platelets if the blood you took is from capillaries rather then veins which is proved to be a better source of blood for platelet counts.  To find out more about me you best head to the Gale Science in Context Database as provided by SD43, you can find quite a bit of information there!! You would definitely need to play around on the keyword search. Since us Thrombocytes are more commonly known as platelets it is easier to put that as our keyword. A couple great questions a human may ask is; What is a thrombocyte? In what ways does a thrombocyte, or platelet, help our bodies? What is the main function of a platelet? What does thrombocytes assist with in our bodies? Would there be a problem if we have too little or too much thrombocytes? The human who I currently reside in asked all these questions, answering them to the best of her abilities with the help of a couple journals from the Science in Context database. She read through several articles finalizing her decision on those that had clear, concise language that still was able to give off its full knowledge. She would scroll down on each article and check for references, if it was deemed to be trustworthy she used that article. My human then read through the articles, taking down some research notes along the way. She tried using a few of the other databases but the journals and writings were too complex for her to apprehend which is why she chose to stay with Science in Context. After compiling her information she went on to creative commons to find suitable pictures, she cited the sources using EasyBib. The Science in Context, site actually had a built in tool for citation of the style you chose, so for the two articles, my human used the built in citation tool. She feels she could’ve done a much better thorough job had she had more time to work on finding out more about us Thrombocytes. My human wouldn’t have minded getting an extra block or two to do a deeper search that would result with even more conclusions and knowledge on the cell. Next time she would try to use different databases, read a few more articles and even watch a couple videos. Just incase you get a cut at anytime of the day, call me or any of my relatives up, we’ll be there trying to clot up your blood and prevent you from bleeding out in no time!

Thrombo, a important part of your physiological processes, the Thrombocyte is out of here.

Citations in MLA8 Form 

• commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1908_Platelet_Development.jpg.
• “Imagen Gratis: Cada Vez Mayor, Vivax, Trophozoite, Plaquetas, Pila, CNTR.” PIXNIO – Imágenes De Dominio Público, 28 Dec. 2016, pixnio.com/es/ciencia/imagenes-microscopia/la-malaria-plasmodium/cada-vez-mayor-vivax-trophozoite-plaquetas-pila-cntr.
• 3 May 2010, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Plateletpheresis_machine.jpg.
• 7 Feb. 2012, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Inflammatory_response.jpg.
• 26 Mar. 2017, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blood_Donation_12-07-06_2.JPG.
• “Free Image on Pixabay – Microscope, Diagnosis, Lab.” Microscope Diagnosis Lab · Free Photo on Pixabay, pixabay.com/en/microscope-diagnosis-lab-veterinary-2352651/.
• Lohr, John T., and Melinda Granger Oberleitner. “Platelet count.” The Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine, edited by Jacqueline L. Longe, 5th ed., Gale, 2015. Science In Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CDKSBS968604740/SCIC?u=43riss&sid=SCIC&xid=3fb97428. Accessed 26 Apr. 2018.
• Trolio, William M. “What do we really need to know about platelets and the laboratory?” Medical Laboratory Observer, Oct. 2016, p. 24+. Science In Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A466782558/SCIC?u=43riss&sid=SCIC&xid=1f175a48. Accessed 26 Apr. 2018.