Question

On average, what is the lifespan of a red blood cell? Where are they destroyed? Where do heme groups go after the destruction of hemoglobin molecules?

Answer 1

The life span of RBC is 120 days after their formation in the bone marrow.

They are destroyed by a phenomenon called Red blood cell programmed cell death (eryptosis) in this when the RBC get aged their membrane undergo some chamges which makes them suceptible to selective recognized by the macrophages and causes their phogocytosis and in this way aged RBC are removed fron the blood.

The heme group present in the RBC undergo a recycled. The heme group is broken down into iron and biliverdin. The iron part is send to blood and carried by a protein and recycled while as the biliverdin is reduced to bilirubin and then released into the plasma and thus bond to albumin.