Anatomy Review: The Heart
Page 1. Introduction
• The heart is the transport system pump; the delivery routes
are the blood vessels. Using blood as the transport medium,
the heart propels oxygen, nutrients, wastes, and other
substances to and past the body cells.
Page 2. Goals
• To review the anatomy of the heart.
• To review the pulmonary and systemic circuits.
• To review the anatomy of cardiac muscle cells.
Page 3. Heart Views
• Label the diagrams of the heart below:
Aort
Superior
Vena
R.
coronary
Right
Pulmonary trunk
Left
pulmonary
Anterior Intra
ventricular artery
Pulmonary
semi lunar
valve
Great
Right
Left vent
Interior
Vena
1
2
Anterior Superficial View
Anterior External
1
Chordae tendineae
2
Papillary muscle
Aorta
Aortic Semi lunar
Chordae
Papillary
Left
Left
Inter Ventricular
Anterior Deep Cut – away
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Right Lateral
Cut-away
View
Right Lateral
External View
S. Vena
Cave
R.
Pulmonary
artery
R.
Pulmonary
Veins
R. Atrium
Aorta
R. Atrium
1
R.
Coronary
Tricuspid
Valve
2
Small
Cardiac
Vein
Interior
Vena cave
1
Fossa Ovalis
2
Coronary Sinus
Posterior
External View Posterior
Cut-away View
S. Vena
Aorta
R.
Pulmonary
artery
R.
Pulmonary
Veins
L.
Pulmonary
artery
L.
Pulmonary
Veins
L. Atrium
Coronary
L. Ventricle
Interior
Vena Cave
Left Lateral
External View
Left
pulmonary
artery
R.
Ventricle
Aorta
Left Lateral
Cut-away
View
L.
pulmonary
artery
L.
Pulmonary
Veins
L. Atrium
2
1
L.
Ventricle
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L. Ventricle
1
Bicuspid valve
2
Aortic Semi Lunar valve
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Page 4. External Heart
• The heart consists of two side by side pumps. The blood
vessels are the "pipes" that carry blood throughout the body.
The right atrium and right ventricle pump oxygen-poor, CO2rich blood to the lungs. In the lungs the blood receives
oxygen, eliminates carbon dioxide, and travels back to the
left atrium of the heart. From the left atrium the oxygen-rich,
CO2-poor blood is pumped out to the body by the left
ventricle. When the body has depleted the blood's oxygen,
the veins return the blood to the right side of the heart and
the cycle continues.
Page 5. Circulation
• Oxygen-poor blood is pumped from the right side of the heart
to the lungs. Here it receives oxygen and travels back to the
heart. This pathway is the pulmonary circuit. The pathway
for the systemic circuit includes the entire body as the left
side of the heart pumps oxygen-rich blood out to the body's
tissue and organs. After the bloods oxygen is depleted, it
returns to the right side of the heart via the venous system.
• On the diagram below, color the oxygen-rich blood red and the
oxygen-poor blood blue. Label the parts:
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Pulmonary circuit
Pulmonary veins
Pulmonary arteries
Left atrium
Left ventricle
Right atrium
Right ventricle
System veins
System arteries
System circuit
Page 6. Cardiac Histology
• Three features of the histology of cardiac muscle:
1. Nuclei
2. Intercalated Disks
3. Cardiac Myofibrils
Page 7. Cardiac Muscle Cells
• There are two kinds of cell junctions and the intercalated
disks.
• The desmosomes are anchoring junctions that hold
adjacent cells together. When the muscle cell contracts,
they pull on each other. If it wasn't for the desmosomes,
the heart would literally pull itself apart in doing its job.
• The gap junctions allow the stimulating impulse to move
across the heart from cell-to-cell so the heart beats as an
entire unit. If each cardiac muscle cell were allowed to do
its own thing the heart would be useless as a pump.
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• Label the parts on the diagram below:
Desmosome
Sarcoplasmic
reticulum
Gap Junction
Inter calated
disc
T - tube
Cardiac
myofibril
Page 8. Summary
• The heart consists of four chambers: the right atrium, right
ventricle, left atrium, and left ventricle.
• The right atrium receives oxygen-poor blood from the systemic
veins; blood moves to the right ventricle and is pumped out
the pulmonary arteries to the lungs.
• The left atrium receives oxygenated blood from the pulmonary
veins; blood moves to the left ventricle and is pumped out
the systemic arteries to the body tissues.
Study Questions on Anatomy Review: The Heart:
1. (Page 4.) What's the difference between the blood in the right
side of the heart and the left side of the heart?
2. (Page 5.) a. Where does the blood go that is pumped out of the
right heart? b. What happens to the blood in the lungs?
c. Where does the blood go that is pumped out of the left heart?
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3. (Page 5.) What is the pulmonary circuit and the systemic circuit?
4. (Page 6.) What three structural features are found on
histological images of cardiac muscle?
5. (Page 7.) What are the names of the two types of cell junctions
in cardiac muscle cells?
6. (Page 7.) What is the function of desmosomes?
7. (Page 7.) What is the function of gap junctions?
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