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How a Blood Donor's Body Refills

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How a Blood Donor's Body Refills

Use a donor's checks and a hospital study to argue how body systems interact.

Darius's checks

Read the passage and Table 1, then answer the questions.

A Day at the Blood Drive

1Mireille Fontaine, a sixth grader, spent a school holiday with her uncle Darius, who is 34 and gives blood twice a year at Lakemont Regional Hospital. The hospital, the people and the numbers here are made up, but they are based on real blood-donation studies. Before Darius donated, nurse Paulina Szabo pricked his finger to check his hemoglobin, a protein inside red blood cells. In the lungs, hemoglobin picks up oxygen, and the blood carries it to cells all over the body.

2Darius's body held about 5.0 L of blood. In about ten minutes, 0.5 L flowed through a tube into a collection bag, and then the nurse removed the needle. He rested and had juice and crackers. An hour later he stood up quickly and felt lightheaded, and his heart rate jumped from 72 to 90 beats per minute within a few seconds. He sat back down, and the feeling passed. Nurse Szabo explained that standing up quickly lets blood pool in the legs for a moment, so the pressure in the upper body dips. Pressure sensors in the walls of large blood vessels in the neck and chest send signals along nerves to the brain, and the brain sends signals that can speed up or slow down the heart.

3About half of blood is plasma, a liquid that is mostly water. Over the next day or two, the body refills the plasma with water that the intestines absorb from drinks and food. Water the body does not need is removed by the kidneys and leaves in urine. Replacing the lost red blood cells takes much longer. The body makes new ones all the time, but each needs hemoglobin, and building hemoglobin takes iron. Iron comes from foods such as beans, meat and leafy greens and is absorbed in the small intestine. The nurse told Darius to drink extra fluids for two days, to skip hard exercise that day and to take one iron pill a day for eight weeks, which he did.

4Mireille checked Darius's heart rate at rest and right after he climbed the same three flights of stairs at the same steady pace. He skipped the stairs on donation day. The hospital also shared a study of 120 healthy adult donors aged 25 to 45. Each gave 0.5 L of blood and got the same advice about food and drinks. Half took a daily iron pill, and half did not.

Table 1. Darius's Checks (heart rates in beats per minute)
WhenResting heart rateAfter the stairsHemoglobin (g/dL)
Before donating6411814.6
1 hour after72not done14.4
Day 26813213.6
Week 46512514
Week 86411914.5
1.
Use Table 1.

On Day 2, Darius's heart rate after the stairs was beats per minute higher than before he donated.

2.
Use paragraph 2.

Darius gave about % of the blood in his body.

3.
One hour after donating, Darius's hemoglobin had barely changed (14.6 to 14.4 g/dL), but on Day 2 it was 13.6 g/dL. Which explanation fits paragraph 3 best?
Question 3 options
4.
Why did Darius's heart beat faster on the stairs on Day 2 than before he donated?
Question 4 options
5.
Use paragraph 2. Which order of events best explains why Darius's heart rate jumped when he stood up quickly?
Question 5 options

Rebuilding red blood cells

Use Table 2, Table 1 and the passage.

Table 2. Hospital Study: Time for Hemoglobin to Return
GroupDonorsDaily iron pill?Weeks to return (avg.)
A60Yes7
B60No18
"Weeks to return" means the number of weeks until a donor's hemoglobin was back to its level before donating.
6.
Use Table 2.

On average, Group A's hemoglobin returned to its starting level weeks sooner than Group B's.

7.
Why did the hospital compare two groups of the same size and age range that each gave 0.5 L and got the same food advice?
Question 7 options
8.
Which explanation of Table 2 fits paragraph 3 best?
Question 8 options
9.
Use Table 1, Table 2 and paragraph 3. Sort each change by how long it took after the donation.
10.
Darius's friend gives blood the same day but skips the juice, drinks very little until the next evening, and then plays a full basketball game. Which prediction fits the passage best?
Question 10 options
11.
Write a short note for next year's first-time donors. Make a claim about why the nurse tells donors to drink extra fluids, take iron if it is advised and skip hard exercise that day. Give evidence from Table 1 and Table 2, and explain how at least three organ systems work together as the body recovers.