<< Back to the Blood

Cells that carries oxygen to all parts of the body through hemoglobin.

Red cells contain hemoglobin and it is the hemoglobin which permits them to transport oxygen (and carbon dioxide). Hemoglobin, aside from being a transport molecule, is a pigment. It gives the cells their red color (and their name).

The abbreviation for red blood cells is RBCs. Red blood cells are sometime simply called red cells. They are also called erythrocytes, haematids or, rarely today, red blood corpuscles. RBCs are considered a prokaryotic cell because it does not contain a nucleus.