In: Biology
Explain in terms of phenotypes, why O type blood is considered a universal donor for all other blood types. (i.e. antigens, antibodies, etc.). Also, what happens to a person as a result of a transfusion reaction, in the case of an incompatible donor and recipient?
In ABO blood type system, A blood type contains A antigen and anti-B antibodies, B blood type contains B antigen and anti-A antibodies, AB type contains both A and B antigen and no antibodies, O blood type contains no antigens and anti-A & anti-B antibodies.
In a blood transfusion, antigen-antibody reaction takes place between donor's antigen and recipient's antibody. As, O type has no antigens, the person can donate blood to A, B, AB and O type individuals. So, O type is the universal donor.
If an incompatible transfusion takes place between a donor and a recipient, then their will be agglutination of RBCs. For example, if a person with A type blood group donates blood to a person with B type blood group, then the antigen-antibody reaction will be between A antigen of donor and anti-A antibodies of the recipient. The anti-A antibodies will destroy the antigen A and hence hemolysis or rupture of RBCs will take place that results in release of hemoglobin into blood plasma.
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