1.
Heart Dissection Lab Sheet:
Please make sure that you sign up for at least one job, and serve as back-up to the other jobs on the
sheet. In the event that someone is absent or unable to complete the dissection, the back-up person will
do their job. There will be NO gloves. You may wash your hands after we complete the lab. Please
pay attention to any and all instructions and move along as the dissection can take a complete class
period.
Once your heart is on the table, notice the shiny exterior. Observe the blood vessels on the top
of the heart and the blood vessels on the outside. Oooohhhh and AAAhhhhhh and let's get
busy.
The first thing we are going to do is look at the blood vessels on the outside of the heart and
move the blood that is in there along the outside of the heart. These vessels supply the heart
with oxygen and nutrients and remove waste.
1. Job:________________________
Back-up:________________________
Take the dissection probe and place it just underneath the very shiny exterior and peel away that
layer (pericardium). This reduces friction as the heart beats inside your chest.
2. Job:________________________
Back-up:________________________
Pick the heart up in your hands and look at the top of it. Find the largest opening, the Aorta
and place a finger in the opening. Feel where your finger is and place that side in your right
hand. Lay the heart in the tray. You may also be able to tell right from left by just feeling
which side of the heart is the thickest in the ventricle area.
3. Job:________________________
Back-up:________________________
Locate the Vena Cava on the right side of the heart and stick your finger down in it to be
sure that you are in the right atrium. Place the straw in when you are sure and guide it to the
bottom of the heart until it pokes at the bottom.
4. Job:________________________
Back-up:________________________
Take the dissection scissor and poke it where you see the straw and snip until you see the
straw and then cut along the straw from the bottom of the heart to the top. Observe the inside
of the heart, the ventricle muscle, the flappy atrium and the valve between them.
5. Job:________________________
Back-up:________________________
Push your finger through the back of the ventricle behind the valve until it comes out of the
heart. This is the Pulmonary Artery which carries the blood away from the heart and to the
lungs to remove carbon dioxide and bring in oxygen.
6. Job:________________________
Back-up:________________________
Now find the Pulmonary Vein and insert your finger to find the way back into the heart. This
time we are in the left atrium. Take the straw and guide it to the bottom of the heart.
7. Job:________________________
Back-up:_________________________
Now take the scissors and poke it where you see the straw and make the same cut we did on
the right side on the left. Open up the heart from top to bottom.
8. Job:_________________________ Back-up:_________________________
Take your finger and push it behind the valve and when it comes out of the top, you will be
showing the Aorta. The Aorta is the largest artery in the human body can carries the blood back
out to the body.
9. Job:_________________________ Back-up:_________________________
Look down into the Aorta and you can see the Aortic valve flaps. Cut through the Aorta until
you uncover the flaps and can see how they can be pulled out to come together and keep the
blood from going backwards.
10. Job:_________________________ Back-up:_________________________
With any remaining time, you may dissect at will.
PLEASE LEAVE ALL THE PIECES IN THE DISSECTION TRAY. IT IS MEAT AND IT IS
ROTTING AND WILL SMELL!
CLEAN UP:
TIP THE TRAY AND ALL THE PARTS ONTO THE CENTER PAPER
BRING THE TRAY, DISSECTION PROBE AND SCISSORS TO THE SINK
ROLL UP THE HEART AND STRAW IN THE PAPER AND PLACE IN THE GARBAGE
WASH YOUR HANDS AND BE QUIET IN THE HALLWAYS PLEASE