Half Life of Platelets, Is EK wrong?!

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BigBuck92

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I was reading in EK Biology: "The platelet has a half-life of 8-12 days in the blood."
I looked up PR's "Cracking the MCAT" and I saw no mention of platelet lifetime.
When I googled: "how long do platelets live"
I found contradictory information to EK.
www.caring.com/questions/transfusion-for-low-platelets states that "platelets on average live only eight days."
www.healthline.com/health/thrombocytopenia#Overview1 cited the Mayo Clinic stating that "each platelet lives about 10 days in a healthy body."

How long do platelets live?
What does EK mean by half life?

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A half life is the time for the number of platelets to be reduced by half.

So EK says in 8 or so days, half will be gone - i.e. the average lifespan.

It seems like all of your sources say the same thing.

I for one don't think it really seems important to memorize anything about that though, MCAT-wise.
 
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