Blood
In this lab you will examine two basic features of blood physiology.
In part 1 you will use simulated blood to determine the blood type (ABO group and Rh) of four different individuals (say, patients Brown, Green, Smith and Jones). Determination of blood types is based on the presence or absence of an agglutination reaction between the antigens on the erythrocytes and the antibodies in the typing serum. If agglutination occurs, this indicates that the erythrocytes possess that particular antigen and thus, have that particular blood type.
Another common physiological assessment of the blood is to determine how many cells of various types are present. In Part 2 of this lab, you will perform two types of cell counts: (1) a hematocrit, which measures the number of red blood cells currently in the blood, and (2) a differential white blood cell count which determines the numbers of each type of leucocyte found in a sample.
Click here for a printable pdf of the protocols for this lab.
Click here for a printable pdf of the assignment worksheet for this lab.