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Faunsdale, AL | Yes, red blood cells, like most other cells in the body, wear out and need replacing. One place they are taken out is in the spleen, but you can do fine without a spleen, so its not the only place. Of course, since the old ones are being removed, that means new ones are being made to maintain the number required. This is mostly done in bone marrow, but in extreme cases of excess blood cell loss over a long time, it can occur elsewhere in the body.
And yes, the hemoglobin from the old cells is processed by the liver to recover the iron and store it before excreting the excess into the gut as bile. There are diseases where excess iron is stored and will affect the operation of the liver, so as mentioned earlier, regular blood donation can keep the amount of iron stored down to a safe level for those folks.
So, if everything is working properly your blood cells are kept in tip top shape at all times and if you loose some for any reason, they are soon replaced.
Edited by ccjersey 1/16/2019 07:36
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A different kind of blood question.
