CVS System

The cardiovascular system consists of the heart, blood vessels, and the
approximately 5 liters of blood that the blood vessels transport. Responsible
for transporting oxygen, nutrients, hormones, and cellular waste products
throughout the body, the cardiovascular system is powered by the body’s
hardest-working organ — the heart, which is only about the size of a closed
fist. Even at rest, the average heart easily pumps over 5 liters of blood
throughout the body every minute....

Functions of the Cardiovascular System

The cardiovascular system has three major functions: transportation of
materials, protection from pathogens, and regulation of the body’s
homeostasis.
 Transportation: The cardiovascular system transports blood to almost all of
the body’s tissues. The blood delivers essential nutrients and oxygen and
removes wastes and carbon dioxide to be processed or removed from the
body. Hormones are transported throughout the body via the blood’s liquid
plasma.

 Protection: The cardiovascular system protects the body through its white
blood cells. White blood cells clean up cellular debris and fight pathogens
that have entered the body. Platelets and red blood cells form scabs to seal
wounds and prevent pathogens from entering the body and liquids from
leaking out. Blood also carries antibodies that provide specific immunity to
pathogens that the body has previously been exposed to or has been
vaccinated against.

 Regulation: The cardiovascular system is instrumental in the body’s ability to

maintain homeostatic control of several internal conditions. Blood vessels
help maintain a stable body temperature by controlling the blood flow to the
surface of the skin. Blood vessels near the skin’s surface open during times
of overheating to allow hot blood to dump its heat into the body’s
surroundings. In the case of hypothermia, these blood vessels constrict to
keep blood flowing only to vital organs in the body’s core. Blood also helps
balance the body’s pH due to the presence of bicarbonate ions, which act as
a buffer solution. Finally, the albumins in blood plasma help to balance the
osmotic concentration of the body’s cells by maintaining an isotonic
environment.

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Internal Structure of Heart
• Heart Parts

The heart is made up of four different blood-filled areas, and each of these areas is called a
chamber. There are two chambers on each side of the heart.

 2 Atria

– Receiving chambers

– thin walled, weak muscles

– primarily a collection site

 2 Ventricles

– Discharging chambers

– thick walls, stronger than atria

– primary force generators; pumping chambers

– left side has much thicker, larger walls than right side

Functions of the Heart

• Generating blood pressure

• Routing blood: separates pulmonary and systemic circulations

• Ensuring one-way blood flow: valves

• Regulating blood supply

– Changes in contraction rate and force match blood delivery to changing metabolic needs

The Heart

 The heart is first of the organs to form. It is the central pumping organ.

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  Its size is about that of a fist, and weighs between 7 and 15 ounces. In fact, each day, the
average heart beats 100,000 times, pumping about 2,000 gallons (7,571 liters) of blood.

 Heart is located between lungs in the middle of chest, behind and slightly to the left of
breastbone (sternum).

 Layers of the heart wall

• Epicardium

• Myocardium

• Endocardium

The Heart: Coverings

 Pericardium – a double serous membrane

 Visceral pericardium

 Parietal pericardium

 Serous fluid fills the space between the layers of pericardium

The Heart: Heart Wall

 Three layers

1) Epicardium

i)Outside layer ii)Connective tissue layer

2) Myocardium
i) Middle layer ii) Mostly cardiac muscle
3) Endocardium

i. Inner layer ii)Endothelium

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 • The Heart Valves
Four types of valves regulate blood flow through heart:

 The tricuspid valve regulates blood flow between the right atrium and right ventricle.
The pulmonary valve controls blood flow from the right ventricle into the pulmonary arteries,
which carry blood to lungs to pick up oxygen.

 The mitral valve lets oxygen-rich blood from lungs pass from the left atrium into the left
ventricle.The aortic valve opens the way for oxygen-rich blood to pass from the left ventricle
into the aorta, body's largest artery, where it is delivered to the rest of the body.

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3 layers of the Heart wall
Epicardium, Myocardium and endocardium

Pulmonary circulation
The flow of blood between the heart and lungs.

Systemic circulation The flow of blood between the heart and the cells of the body.

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Pulmonary

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 The Circulatory System
• The movement of blood through the heart and around the body is called circulation.

• Blood moves through many tubes called arteries and veins, which together are called blood
vessels. These blood vessels are attached to the heart.

• Artery: The blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart are called arteries.

• Vein: The ones that carry blood back to the heart are called veins.

2 Major Pathways of Blood Flow

• Pulmonary Circuit (Right Heart)

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 – put oxygen, O2 into blood and get rid of excess carbon dioxide, CO2

– Right Atrium ----> Right Ventricle ----> pulmonary artery ----> lung capillaries ---->
pulmonary vein

• Systemic Circuit (Left Heart)

– carry oxygen and nutrients to body tissues & remove CO2, wastes

– Left Atrium ----> Left Ventricle ----> aorta ----> systemic capillaries ----> vena cava

Coronary Circulation
The heart has its own set of blood vessels that provide the myocardium with
the oxygen and nutrients necessary to pump blood throughout the body. The
left and right coronary arteries branch off from the aorta and provide blood
to the left and right sides of the heart. The coronary sinus is a vein on the
posterior side of the heart that returns deoxygenated blood from the
myocardium to the vena cava.

• The heart needs oxygen-rich blood to survive. Blood is supplied to the heart by its own
vascular system, called coronary circulation.

• The aorta branches off into two main coronary blood vessels. These coronary arteries
branch off into smaller arteries, which supply oxygen-rich blood to the entire heart
muscle.

• The right coronary artery supplies blood mainly to the right side of the heart.

• The left coronary artery supplies blood to the left side of the heart.

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Regulation of Blood Pressure
• Main coordinating center is in the medulla oblongata of the brain; medullary cardiovascular
control center

• Reflex control of blood pressure

• Baroreceptor reflex

• Chemoreceptor reflex

Regulation of Blood Pressure

Several functions of the cardiovascular system can

control blood pressure. Certain hormones along with
autonomic nerve signals from the brain affect the rate
and strength of heart contractions. Greater contractile
force and heart rate lead to an increase in blood
pressure. Blood vessels can also affect blood pressure.
Vasoconstriction decreases the diameter of an artery by
contracting the smooth muscle in the arterial wall. The
sympathetic (fight or flight) division of the autonomic
nervous system causes vasoconstriction, which leads to
increases in blood pressure and decreases in blood flow
in the constricted region. Vasodilation is the expansion
of an artery as the smooth muscle in the arterial wall
relaxes after the fight-or-flight response wears off or
under the effect of certain hormones or chemicals in
the blood. The volume of blood in the body also affects
blood pressure. A higher volume of blood in the body
raises blood pressure by increasing the amount of
blood pumped by each heartbeat. Thicker, more
viscous blood from clotting disorders can also raise
blood pressure.

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 The Conduction System
 The specialized tissue that are concerned with the initiation and conduction of cardiac impulses
are called junctional tissue or the Conductive System of the heart.

 The component of the junctional tissue are:

sinoatrial (SA) node

 located at the top of the right atrium

 sometimes called the heart's "natural pacemaker

Internodal pathways

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 Atrioventricular nodes(AV node)

Bundle of His, and

Purkinjee system

A Hearty Muscle/ Cardiac Muscle

• The muscle that makes up the heart is called cardiac muscle. It is also
known as the myocardium (say: my-uh-kar-dee-um). The thick muscles of
the heart contract to pump blood out and then relax to let blood back in
after it's circulated through the body.

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 • Just like smooth muscle, cardiac muscle works all by itself with no help
from you. A special group of cells within the heart are known as the
pacemaker of the heart because it controls the heartbeat.
• Found only in heart where it forms a thick layer called the myocardium

• Striated fibers that branch

• Each cell usually has one centrally-located nucleus

• Fibers joined by intercalated disks

– IDs are composites of desmosomes and gap junctions

– Allow excitation in one fiber to spread quickly to adjoining fibers

• Under control of the ANS (involuntary) and endocrine system (hormones)

• Some cells are autorhythmic

Fibers spontaneously contract (aka Pacemaker cells

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Description of cardiovascular system anatomy:
1)The Heart
The heart is a muscular pumping organ located medial to the lungs along
the body’s midline in the thoracic region. The bottom tip of the heart, known
as its apex, is turned to the left, so that about 2/3 of the heart is located on
the body’s left side with the other 1/3 on right. The top of the heart, known
as the heart’s base, connects to the great blood vessels of the body:
the aorta, vena cava, pulmonary trunk, and pulmonary veins.

2)Circulatory Loops
There are 2 primary circulatory loops in the human body: the pulmonary
circulation loop and the systemic circulation loop.
a)Pulmonary circulation transports deoxygenated blood from the right
side of the heart to the lungs, where the blood picks up oxygen and
returns to the left side of the heart. The pumping chambers of the heart
that support the pulmonary circulation loop are the right atrium and right
ventricle.

b)Systemic circulation carries highly oxygenated blood from the left side
of the heart to all of the tissues of the body (with the exception of the
heart and lungs). Systemic circulation removes wastes from body tissues
and returns deoxygenated blood to the right side of the heart. The left
atrium and left ventricle of the heart are the pumping chambers for the
systemic circulation loop.

3)Blood Vessels
Blood vessels are the body’s highways that allow blood to flow quickly and
efficiently from the heart to every region of the body and back again. The
size of blood vessels corresponds with the amount of blood that passes
through the vessel. All blood vessels contain a hollow area called the lumen
through which blood is able to flow. Around the lumen is the wall of the
vessel, which may be thin in the case of capillaries or very thick in the case
of arteries.
All blood vessels are lined with a thin layer of simple squamous epithelium
known as the endothelium that keeps blood cells inside of the blood vessels
and prevents clots from forming. The endothelium lines the entire circulatory
system, all the way to the interior of the heart, where it is called the
endocardium.
There are three major types of blood vessels: arteries, capillaries and veins.
Blood vessels are often named after either the region of the body through
which they carry blood or for nearby structures. For example,

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the brachiocephalic artery carries blood into the brachial (arm) and
cephalic (head) regions. One of its branches, the subclavian artery, runs
under the clavicle; hence the name subclavian. The subclavian artery runs
into the axillary region where it becomes known as the axillary artery.

a)Arteries and Arterioles: Arteries are blood vessels that carry blood away
from the heart. Blood carried by arteries is usually highly oxygenated,
having just left the lungs on its way to the body’s tissues. The pulmonary
trunk and arteries of the pulmonary circulation loop provide an exception
to this rule – these arteries carry deoxygenated blood from the heart to
the lungs to be oxygenated.

Arteries face high levels of blood pressure as they carry blood being
pushed from the heart under great force. To withstand this pressure, the
walls of the arteries are thicker, more elastic, and more muscular than
those of other vessels. The largest arteries of the body contain a high
percentage of elastic tissue that allows them to stretch and accommodate
the pressure of the heart.

Smaller arteries are more muscular in the structure of their walls. The
smooth muscles of the arterial walls of these smaller arteries contract or
expand to regulate the flow of blood through their lumen. In this way, the
body controls how much blood flows to different parts of the body under
varying circumstances. The regulation of blood flow also affects blood
pressure, as smaller arteries give blood less area to flow through and
therefore increases the pressure of the blood on arterial walls.

b)Arterioles are narrower arteries that branch off from the ends of
arteries and carry blood to capillaries. They face much lower blood
pressures than arteries due to their greater number, decreased blood
volume, and distance from the direct pressure of the heart. Thus arteriole
walls are much thinner than those of arteries. Arterioles, like arteries, are
able to use smooth muscle to control their aperture and regulate blood
flow and blood pressure.

c)Capillaries: Capillaries are the smallest and thinnest of the blood vessels in
the body and also the most common. They can be found running throughout
almost every tissue of the body and border the edges of the body’s
avascular tissues. Capillaries connect to arterioles on one end and venules
on the other.

Capillaries carry blood very close to the cells of the tissues of the body in
order to exchange gases, nutrients, and waste products. The walls of

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capillaries consist of only a thin layer of endothelium so that there is the
minimum amount of structure possible between the blood and the tissues.
The endothelium acts as a filter to keep blood cells inside of the vessels
while allowing liquids, dissolved gases, and other chemicals to diffuse along
their concentration gradients into or out of tissues.

d)Precapillary sphincters are bands of smooth muscle found at the arteriole

ends of capillaries. These sphincters regulate blood flow into the capillaries.
Since there is a limited supply of blood, and not all tissues have the same
energy and oxygen requirements, the precapillary sphincters reduce blood
flow to inactive tissues and allow free flow into active tissues.

e)Veins and Venules: Veins are the large return vessels of the body and act
as the blood return counterparts of arteries. Because the arteries, arterioles,
and capillaries absorb most of the force of the heart’s contractions, veins
and venules are subjected to very low blood pressures. This lack of pressure
allows the walls of veins to be much thinner, less elastic, and less muscular
than the walls of arteries.

Veins rely on gravity, inertia, and the force of skeletal muscle contractions to
help push blood back to the heart. To facilitate the movement of blood,
some veins contain many one-way valves that prevent blood from flowing
away from the heart. As skeletal muscles in the body contract, they squeeze
nearby veins and push blood through valves closer to the heart.

When the muscle relaxes, the valve traps the blood until another contraction
pushes the blood closer to the heart. Venules are similar to arterioles as they
are small vessels that connect capillaries, but unlike arterioles, venules
connect to veins instead of arteries. Venules pick up blood from many
capillaries and deposit it into larger veins for transport back to the heart.

3)Coronary Circulation
The heart has its own set of blood vessels that provide the myocardium with
the oxygen and nutrients necessary to pump blood throughout the body. The
left and right coronary arteries branch off from the aorta and provide blood
to the left and right sides of the heart. The coronary sinus is a vein on the
posterior side of the heart that returns deoxygenated blood from the
myocardium to the vena cava.

4)Hepatic Portal Circulation

The veins of the stomach and intestines perform a unique function: instead
of carrying blood directly back to the heart, they carry blood to the
liver through the hepatic portal vein. Blood leaving the digestive organs is

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rich in nutrients and other chemicals absorbed from food. The liver removes
toxins, stores sugars, and processes the products of digestion before they
reach the other body tissues. Blood from the liver then returns to the heart
through the inferior vena cava.

5)Blood
The average human body contains about 4 to 5 liters of blood. As a liquid
connective tissue, it transports many substances through the body and helps
to maintain homeostasis of nutrients, wastes, and gases. Blood is made up
of red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, and liquid plasma.
a)Red Blood Cells: Red blood cells, also known as erythrocytes, are by far
the most common type of blood cell and make up about 45% of blood
volume. Erythrocytes are produced inside of red bone marrow from stem
cells at the astonishing rate of about 2 million cells every second. The shape
of erythrocytes is biconcave—disks with a concave curve on both sides of the
disk so that the center of an erythrocyte is its thinnest part. The unique
shape of erythrocytes gives these cells a high surface area to volume ratio
and allows them to fold to fit into thin capillaries. Immature erythrocytes
have a nucleus that is ejected from the cell when it reaches maturity to
provide it with its unique shape and flexibility. The lack of a nucleus means
that red blood cells contain no DNA and are not able to repair themselves
once damaged.

Erythrocytes transport oxygen in the blood through the red pigment

hemoglobin. Hemoglobin contains iron and proteins joined to greatly
increase the oxygen carrying capacity of erythrocytes. The high surface area
to volume ratio of erythrocytes allows oxygen to be easily transferred into
the cell in the lungs and out of the cell in the capillaries of the systemic
tissues.

b)White Blood Cells: White blood cells, also known as leukocytes, make up a
very small percentage of the total number of cells in the bloodstream, but
have important functions in the body’s immune system. There are two
major classes of white blood cells: granular leukocytes and agranular
leukocytes.

i)Granular Leukocytes: The three types of granular leukocytes are

neutrophils, eosinophils, and basophils. Each type of granular leukocyte is
classified by the presence of chemical-filled vesicles in their cytoplasm that
give them their function. Neutrophils contain digestive enzymes that
neutralize bacteria that invade the body. Eosinophils contain digestive
enzymes specialized for digesting viruses that have been bound to by

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antibodies in the blood. Basophils release histamine to intensify allergic
reactions and help protect the body from parasites.

ii)Agranular Leukocytes: The two major classes of agranular leukocytes are

lymphocytes and monocytes. Lymphocytes include T cells and natural killer
cells that fight off viral infections and B cells that produce antibodies against
infections by pathogens. Monocytes develop into cells called macrophages
that engulf and ingest pathogens and the dead cells from wounds or
infections.

c)Platelets : Also known as thrombocytes, platelets are small cell fragments

responsible for the clotting of blood and the formation of scabs. Platelets
form in the red bone marrow from large megakaryocyte cells that
periodically rupture and release thousands of pieces of membrane that
become the platelets. Platelets do not contain a nucleus and only survive in
the body for up to a week before macrophages capture and digest them.

d)Plasma: Plasma is the non-cellular or liquid portion of the blood that

makes up about 55% of the blood’s volume. Plasma is a mixture of water,
proteins, and dissolved substances. Around 90% of plasma is made
of water, although the exact percentage varies depending upon the
hydration levels of the individual. The proteins within plasma include
antibodies and albumins. Antibodies are part of the immune system and bind
to antigens on the surface of pathogens that infect the body. Albumins help
maintain the body’s osmotic balance by providing an isotonic solution for the
cells of the body. Many different substances can be found dissolved in the
plasma, including glucose, oxygen, carbon dioxide, electrolytes, nutrients,
and cellular waste products. The plasma functions as a transportation
medium for these substances as they move throughout the body.

6)The Circulatory Pump

The heart is a four-chambered “double pump,” where each side (left and
right) operates as a separate pump. The left and right sides of the heart are
separated by a muscular wall of tissue known as the septum of the heart.
The right side of the heart receives deoxygenated blood from the systemic
veins and pumps it to the lungs for oxygenation. The left side of the heart
receives oxygenated blood from the lungs and pumps it through the
systemic arteries to the tissues of the body. Each heartbeat results in the
simultaneous pumping of both sides of the heart, making the heart a very
efficient pump.

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7)Regulation of Blood Pressure
Several functions of the cardiovascular system can control blood pressure.
Certain hormones along with autonomic nerve signals from the brain affect
the rate and strength of heart contractions. Greater contractile force and
heart rate lead to an increase in blood pressure. Blood vessels can also
affect blood pressure. Vasoconstriction decreases the diameter of an artery
by contracting the smooth muscle in the arterial wall. The sympathetic (fight
or flight) division of the autonomic nervous system causes vasoconstriction,
which leads to increases in blood pressure and decreases in blood flow in the
constricted region. Vasodilation is the expansion of an artery as the smooth
muscle in the arterial wall relaxes after the fight-or-flight response wears off
or under the effect of certain hormones or chemicals in the blood. The
volume of blood in the body also affects blood pressure. A higher volume of
blood in the body raises blood pressure by increasing the amount of blood
pumped by each heartbeat. Thicker, more viscous blood from clotting
disorders can also raise blood pressure.

8)Hemostasis
Hemostasis, or the clotting of blood and formation of scabs, is managed by
the platelets of the blood. Platelets normally remain inactive in the blood
until they reach damaged tissue or leak out of the blood vessels through a
wound. Once active, platelets change into a spiny ball shape and become
very sticky in order to latch on to damaged tissues. Platelets next release
chemical clotting factors and begin to produce the protein fibrin to act as
structure for the blood clot. Platelets also begin sticking together to form a
platelet plug. The platelet plug will serve as a temporary seal to keep blood
in the vessel and foreign material out of the vessel until the cells of the
blood vessel can repair the damage to the vessel wall.

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