CIRCULATORY SYSTEM

1. FLUIDS IN OUR BODY

 Blood: contained in the heart and blood vessels of the circulatory system
 Tissue fluid: occupying spaces between cells and tissues in the organs
 Lymph: contained within lymph vessels and lymphatic organs
2. PROPERTIES OF BLOOD
 Never stationary
 Colour: thick fluid, bright red when taken from an artery and dark red in veins
 Volume: average adult human had 5 to 6 litres of blood by volume
 Taste: saltish because blood is slightly alkaline with a pH level of 7.3 to 7.45
3. FUNCTIONS OF BLOOD- mainly, (a) transport and (b) protection
(a) transport:
 of digested food: from the alimentary canal to the tissues, substances like simple
sugars, glucose, amino acids, salts and vitamins and minerals etc.
 of oxygen: from lungs to the tissues. RBCs combine with haemoglobin in the form of an
unstable compound, oxyhaemoglobin, which on reaching breaks up to deliver oxygen.
 of carbon dioxide: from tissues to lungs. In combination with haemoglobin, forming an
unstable compound, carbaminohaemoglobin and partly as solution in blood plasma (in
veins).
 of excretory substances: from the tissues to the liver, kidney or skin
 distribution of hormones: secretion of hormones by endocrine glands directly into the
blood is distributed evenly
 distribution of heat: blood helps in maintaining uniform temperature throughout the
body by distributing the heat evenly.
(b) Protection:
 Blood forms a clot whenever there is a tear in the blood vessel to prevent any further
loss of blood and to prevent disease causing germs from entering the body.
 WBCs in the blood engulf the bacteria that may have entered the body.
 Antitoxins and antibodies neutralise or kill the foreign substances which may have
entered the body.
4. COMPOSITION OF BLOOD- (a) plasma and (b) cellular elements
(a) Plasma: is a light-yellow coloured, alkaline liquid and consists mainly 90- 92% of
water, 7-8% of proteins and about 1% of inorganic salts and other substances. The
inorganic salts mainly include sodium chloride and sodium bicarbonate. The plasma
from which the protein fibrinogen has been removed is called serum.
(b) Cellular components:
1. RBCs (erythrocytes): minute biconcave disc-like structures, flat in the centre
and thick at the periphery. Extremely small in size about 7 micron, a thousandth of
a millimetre plus the concavities on either side provide a large surface area which
helps absorb oxygen more efficiently and also helps in travelling through small
capillaries. An average adult has about 4.5 to5 million RBCs per cubic mm of
blood. Haemoglobin is the effective chemical constituent of RBC. RBC is a
colourless spongy body or stroma which contains respiratory pigment
haemoglobin. IT has the ability to combine with oxygen to form oxyhaemoglobin,
but can carry very small amounts of carbon dioxide. Although, haemoglobin does
have a strong affinity towards carbon monoxide and combines to form
carboxyhaemoglobin, which is a compound that cuts down the capacity of blood
transporting oxygen which can be fatal.
2. WBCs (leukocytes):
5. THE HEART
 The heart is an amazing organ. It starts beating about 22 days after conception and
continuously pumps oxygenated red blood cells and nutrient-rich blood and other
compounds like platelets throughout your body to sustain the life of your organs. Its
pumping power also pushes blood through organs like the lungs to remove waste
products like CO2.

 This fist-sized powerhouse beats (expands and contracts) about 100,000 times per
day, pumping five or six quarts of blood each minute, or about 2,000 gallons per day.
  In general, if the heart stops beating, in about 4-6 minutes of no blood flow, brain
cells begin to die and after 10 minutes of no blood flow, the brain cells will cease to
function and effectively be dead. There are few exceptions to the above.
 The heart works by a regulated series of events that cause this muscular organ to
contract (squeeze to push blood) and then relax (refill with blood).
 A normal heart has 4 chambers that undergo the squeeze and relax cycle at specific
time intervals that are regulated by a normal sequence of electrical signals that arise
from specialized tissue.
 In addition, the normal sequence of electrical signals can be sped up or slowed down
depending on the needs of the individual, for example, the heart will automatically
speed up electrical signals to respond to a person running and will automatically slow
down when a person takes a nap.

6. LOCATION, PARTS AND SIZE

 The heart is located under the rib cage, in the centre, slightly to the left of your
breastbone (sternum) and between the lungs and above the diaphragm.
 The heart is about the size of a closed fist, weighs about 10.5 ounces, and is about 12
cm in length and 9 cm in width and is somewhat cone-shaped. It is covered by a
double walled membranous sack termed the pericardium or pericardial sack.
 The normal heart anatomy consists of a four-chambered, hollow organ.
 It is divided into the left and right side by a muscular wall called the septum.
 The right and left sides of the heart are further divided into two top chambers called
the atria (also termed the right and left atrium), which receive blood and then pump it
into the two bottom chambers called ventricles, which then pumps blood to the lungs
and to the body.
 The coronary arteries are on the heart surface (left main, right coronary).
 The coronary arteries and veins comprise the heart’s own mini-circulatory system.
 Two major coronary arteries branch off from the aorta near the point where the aorta
and the left ventricle meet:
  Right coronary artery supplies the right atrium and right ventricle with blood. It
branches into the posterior descending artery, which supplies the bottom portion of
the left ventricle and back of the septum with blood.
 Left main coronary artery branches into the circumflex artery and the left anterior
descending artery. The circumflex artery supplies blood to the left atrium, side and
back of the left ventricle, and the left anterior descending artery supplies the front and
bottom of the left ventricle and the front of the septum with blood.
 These arteries and their branches supply all parts of the heart muscle with blood.

7. NORMAL HEART ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY

Normal heart anatomy and physiology need the atria and ventricles to work sequentially,
contracting and relaxing to pump blood out of the heart and then to let the chambers refill.
When blood leaves each chamber of the heart, it passes through a valve that is designed to
prevent backflow of blood. There are four heart valves within the heart:

 Mitral valve between the left atrium and left ventricle

 Tricuspid valve between the right atrium and right ventricle
 Aortic valve between the left ventricle and aorta
 Pulmonic valve (also called pulmonary valve) between the right ventricle and
pulmonary artery

8. HOW THE HEART VALVES WORK

 The heart valves work the same way as one-way valves in the plumbing of your
home. They prevent blood from flowing in the wrong direction.
 Each valve has a set of flaps, called leaflets or cusps.
 The mitral valve has two leaflets; the tricuspid has three.
 The leaflets are attached to and supported by a ring of tough, fibrous tissue called the
annulus.
 The annulus helps to maintain the proper shape of the valve.
  The leaflets of the mitral and tricuspid valves are also supported by tough, fibrous
strings called chordae tendineae.
 These are similar to the strings supporting a parachute. They extend from the valve
leaflets to small muscles, called papillary muscles, which are part of the inside walls
of the ventricles.
 The endocardium is the membrane composed of epithelial cells that line the heart
chambers and valves. It provides a slick surface so that red blood cells, platelets and
other substances in blood will not stick to the heart’s inner surface. It also contains
Purkinje fibers (specialized muscle cells that can transmit electrical impulses that can
cause heart muscle contraction) and collagen fibers to make the endocardium elastic.
 In addition, a cluster of cells that are located in the upper right atrium is termed the
SAN (sinoatrial node or pacemaker), which generates electrical impulses.
 These impulses move down cells toward the AV node (atrioventricular node), another
cluster of cells located near the center of the heart between the bottom of the right
atria and the top of the ventricles.
 The AV node pauses the electrical impulse long enough to have the atria fully
contract (squeeze blood out into the ventricles); then it allows the impulse to go into
cells termed the bundle of His to the ventricles that split into the right and left bundle
branches in the ventricles.
 The electrical impulse finally reaches Purkinje fibers and then cause the ventricles to
contract to push blood into the lungs and aorta.
 The heart rate (pulse) and blood pressure are generated by ventricular contractions;
the SA node impulse rate is influenced by the body’s autonomic nervous system.
 At rest, a normal heart beats around 50 to 99 times a minute.
 Exercise, emotions, fever, and some medications can cause your heart to beat faster,
sometimes to well over 100 beats per minute.

9. HOW BLOOD FLOWS THROUGH RIGHT AND LEFT SIDE OF THE HEART?

The right and left sides of the heart work together. The pattern described below is repeated
over and over (heart rhythm), causing blood to flow continuously to the heart, lungs, and
body to supply oxygen and nutrients to the body cells and to deliver waste products to organs
that remove them from your body. In general, veins return blood carrying CO2 while arteries
usually contain O2 enriched red blood cells. However, the blood flow through the heart is a
little different. For example:

Right side of the heart

 Blood enters the heart through two large veins, the inferior and superior vena cava,
emptying oxygen-deficit blood from the body into the right atrium of the heart.
 As the atrium contracts, blood flows from the right atrium into the right ventricle
through the open tricuspid valve.
 When the ventricle is full, the tricuspid valve shuts. This prevents blood from flowing
backward into the atria while the ventricle contracts.
 • As the ventricle contracts, blood leaves the heart through the pulmonic valve, into
the pulmonary artery and to the lungs where it is oxygenated. Note that oxygen-deficit
or higher concentrated CO2 containing blood goes through the pulmonary artery to
the lungs where CO2 is exchanged for O2.

Left side of the heart (operating at the same time as the right side of the heart)

 The pulmonary vein empties oxygen-rich blood from the lungs into the left atrium of
the heart.
 As the atrium contracts, blood flows from the left atrium into the left ventricle
through the open mitral valve.
 When the ventricle is full, the mitral valve shuts. This prevents blood from flowing
backward into the atrium while the ventricle contracts.
 As the ventricle contracts, oxygen-enriched blood leaves the heart through the aortic
valve, into the aorta and to the arteries and eventually into veins to complete the blood
circulation in your body.

10. HOW DOES BLOOD FLOW THROUGH THE HEART TO THE LUNGS?
  Once blood travels through the pulmonic valve, it enters your lungs. This is called the
pulmonary circulation.
 From your pulmonic valve, blood travels to the pulmonary artery to tiny capillary
vessels in the lungs.
 Here, oxygen travels from the tiny air sacs in the lungs, through the walls of the
capillaries, into the blood (diffusion).
 At the same time, carbon dioxide, a waste product of metabolism, passes from the
blood into the air sacs.
 Carbon dioxide leaves the body when you exhale.
 Once the blood is oxygenated, it travels back to the left atrium through the pulmonary
veins.

11. BLOOD VESSELS

1. Artery- carries away from the heart to any organ in the body
Characteristics:
 Thick muscular walls
 Narrow lumen
 Blood flows in it through spurts corresponding to the ventricular contractions
 Smallest final branch of an artery is called an arteriole
2. Vein- carries blood toward the heart away from an organ
Characteristics:
 Thin muscular walls
 Wider lumen
 Blood flows in it uniformly and veins contain thin pocket shaped valves whose
openings face in the direction of the heart and prevent the backflow of blood to the
heart
3. Capillary- narrowest blood vessel that join to form arterioles and venules
Characteristics:
 Walls consist of squamous epithelial cells(endothelium)
 No muscles, total number of capillaries in the entire body is inconceivable
Functions:
  Allows the outward and inward diffusion of O2 and CO2, into and from the
intercellular fluid to and from the tissue cells
 Inward and outward diffusion of substances like glucose, amino acids, urea and
hormones
 To allow WBCs to squeeze out through amoeboid movement
12. BLOOD CIRCULATIONS
1. Pulmonary: pertains to the lungs. It starts in the pulmonary artery arising
from the right ventricle which soon divides into two branches that enter the
respective lungs where the pulmonary veins collect the oxygenated blood and
transport it to the left atrium.
2. Systematic: pertains to the major circulation in the body. It starts in the aorta
arising from the left ventricle which arches backwards and continues behind as
the dorsal aorta. The aorta sends arteries to several parts of the body.
3. Hepatic portal system: pertains to the liver. Nutrients from the GI tract are
absorbed in the small and large intestines which move into the superior and
inferior mesenteric veins.
 small intestine  superior mesenteric vein  hepatic portal vein
 liver
 large intestine  inferior mesenteric vein  splenic vein 
hepatic portal vein  liver
 stomach  gastric veins  hepatic portal vein  liver
 spleen  splenic vein  hepatic portal vein  liver