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Human Heart: Anatomy, Function & Facts

The human heart is an organ that pumps blood throughout the body via the circulatory system, supplying oxygen and nutrients to tissues and removing carbon dioxide and other wastes. The heart is roughly the size of a fist and has four chambers that work together to circulate blood through the pulmonary and systemic circuits. The heart contains electrical pacemaker cells that cause it to contract in a healthy repeating cycle to produce a heartbeat.

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Florie Fe Rosario Ortega
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640 views2 pages

Human Heart: Anatomy, Function & Facts

The human heart is an organ that pumps blood throughout the body via the circulatory system, supplying oxygen and nutrients to tissues and removing carbon dioxide and other wastes. The heart is roughly the size of a fist and has four chambers that work together to circulate blood through the pulmonary and systemic circuits. The heart contains electrical pacemaker cells that cause it to contract in a healthy repeating cycle to produce a heartbeat.

Uploaded by

Florie Fe Rosario Ortega
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Human Heart: Anatomy, Function & Facts

By Tanya Lewis - Staff Writer March 22, 2016


 

(Image: © Dreamstime)

The human heart is an organ that pumps blood throughout the body via the circulatory system,
supplying oxygen and nutrients to the tissues and removing carbon dioxide and other wastes.

"The tissues of the body need a constant supply of nutrition in order to be active," said Dr.
Lawrence Phillips, a cardiologist at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York. "If [the heart]
is not able to supply blood to the organs and tissues, they'll die."

Human heart anatomy


In humans, the heart is roughly the size of a large fist and weighs between about 10 to 12 ounces
(280 to 340 grams) in men and 8 to 10 ounces (230 to 280 grams) in women, according to Henry
Gray's "Anatomy of the Human Body." 
The physiology of the heart basically comes down to "structure, electricity and plumbing,"
Phillips told Live Science.

The human heart is about the size of a fist. (Image credit: tlorna Shutterstock)


The human heart has four chambers: two upper chambers (the atria) and two lower ones (the
ventricles), according to the National Institutes of Health. The right atrium and right ventricle
together make up the "right heart," and the left atrium and left ventricle make up the "left heart."
A wall of muscle called the septum separates the two sides of the heart.
A double-walled sac called the pericardium encases the heart, which serves to protect the heart
and anchor it inside the chest. Between the outer layer, the parietal pericardium, and the inner
layer, the serous pericardium, runs pericardial fluid, which lubricates the heart during
contractions and movements of the lungs and diaphragm.

The heart's outer wall consists of three layers. The outermost wall layer, or epicardium, is the
inner wall of the pericardium.  The middle layer, or myocardium, contains the muscle that
contracts. The inner layer, or endocardium, is the lining that contacts the blood.
The tricuspid valve and the mitral valve make up the atrioventricular (AV) valves, which connect
the atria and the ventricles. The pulmonary semi-lunar valve separates the right ventricle from
the pulmonary artery, and the aortic valve separates the left ventricle from the aorta. The
heartstrings, or chordae tendinae, anchor the valves to heart muscles.

The sinoatrial node produces the electrical pulses that drive heart contractions.

Human heart function


The heart circulates blood through two pathways: the pulmonary circuit and the systemic circuit.

In the pulmonary circuit, deoxygenated blood leaves the right ventricle of the heart via the
pulmonary artery and travels to the lungs, then returns as oxygenated blood to the left atrium of
the heart via the pulmonary vein.

In the systemic circuit, oxygenated blood leaves the body via the left ventricle to the aorta, and
from there enters the arteries and capillaries where it supplies the body's tissues with oxygen.
Deoxygenated blood returns via veins to the venae cavae, re-entering the heart's right atrium.

Of course, the heart is also a muscle, so it needs a fresh supply of oxygen and nutrients, too,
Phillips said.

The cardiovascular system circulates blood from the heart to the lungs and around the body via blood vessels. (Image credit: The
BioDigital HumanTM developed by NYU School of Medicine and BioDigital Systems LLC)
"After the blood leaves the heart through the aortic valve, two sets of arteries bring oxygenated
blood to feed the heart muscle," he said. The left main coronary artery, on one side of the aorta,
branches into the left anterior descending artery and the left circumflex artery. The right
coronary artery branches out on the right side of the aorta.

Blockage of any of these arteries can cause a heart attack, or damage to the muscle of the heart,
Phillips said. A heart attack is distinct from cardiac arrest, which is a sudden loss of heart
function that usually occurs as a result of electrical disturbances of the heart rhythm. A heart
attack can lead to cardiac arrest, but the latter can also be caused by other problems, he said.
The heart contains electrical "pacemaker" cells, which cause it to contract — producing a
heartbeat.

"Each cell has the ability to be the 'band leader' and [to] have everyone follow," Phillips said. In
people with an irregular heartbeat, or atrial fibrillation, every cell tries to be the band leader, he
said, which causes them to beat out of sync with one another.

A healthy heart contraction happens in five stages. In the first stage (early diastole), the heart is
relaxed. Then the atrium contracts (atrial systole) to push blood into the ventricle. Next, the
ventricles start contracting without changing volume. Then the ventricles continue contracting
while empty. Finally, the ventricles stop contracting and relax. Then the cycle repeats. 

Valves prevent backflow, keeping the blood flowing in one direction through the heart.

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