血液是在动物的循环系统、心脏和血管腔内循环流动的一种组织，可以将氧气及营养素送到各器官，并将细胞的代谢废弃物带离细胞。血液组织是结缔组织的一种，由血浆和血球组成。血浆内含血浆蛋白（白蛋白、球蛋白、纤维蛋白原）、脂蛋白等各种营养成分以及无机盐、氧、激素、酶、抗体和细胞代谢产物等。血细胞有红血球、白血球和血小板。哺乳类的血液具有凝血机制，血管破裂时，血小板会结集，堵塞血管破口，此时血浆中原本可水溶的血纤维蛋白等凝固成为血块，剩余的透明液体就叫做血清。

生物体的生理变化和病理变化往往引起血液成分的改变，所以血液成分的检测有重要的临床意义。

Blood is a bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells.

In vertebrates, it is composed of blood cells suspended in blood plasma. Plasma, which constitutes 55% of blood fluid, is mostly water (92% by volume), and contains dissipated proteins, glucose, mineral ions, hormones, carbon dioxide (plasma being the main medium for excretory product transportation), and blood cells themselves. Albumin is the main protein in plasma, and it functions to regulate the colloidal osmotic pressure of blood. The blood cells are mainly red blood cells (also called RBCs or erythrocytes), white blood cells (also called WBCs or leukocytes) and platelets. The most abundant cells in vertebrate blood are red blood cells. These contain hemoglobin, an iron-containing protein, which facilitates oxygen transport by reversibly binding to this respiratory gas and greatly increasing its solubility in blood. In contrast, carbon dioxide is almost entirely transported extracellularly dissolved in plasma as bicarbonate ion.