Blood Platelets

Blood platelets are one of the many components, including different types of cells which, together, form blood. They are also known as thrombocytes.


The structure of blood platelets (or 'thrombocytes') can be summarized as follows:

• Blood platelets are cell fragments
• Disk-shaped
• Diameter 2-4 um (1 micro-metre = 1 um = 0.000001m)
• Have many granules but no nucleus
• Have a longevity of approx. 5-9 days.
• There are approx. 150,000 - 400,000 platelets per micro-litre of blood.

The functions of blood platelets (or 'thrombocytes') include:

• To facilitate blood clotting - the purpose of which is to prevent loss of body fluids.

For more information about other components (sometimes called the 'constituents') of blood, see the page about the structure and functions of blood. This may interest students of holistic massage, reflexology, beauty therapies, or health-related courses.