THE CARDIOVASCULAR
SYSTEM
Mary Chiang
B8
THE PARTS OF THE CARDIOVASCULAR
SYSTEM




Heart
Veins
Arteries
Capillaries
THE OUTSIDE OF THE HEART
1
5
2
3
4
4
4
6
4
1.Aorta
2.Pulmonary artery
3.Pulmonary vein
4.Coronary arteries
5.Vena cava
(superior)
6.Vena cava
(inferior)
WHAT DO THEY DO?
 Aorta
 the large artery in charge of allocating blood rich in oxygen to the body
 Pulmonary artery
 The artery that sends oxygen-less blood from the right ventricle to the
lungs
 Pulmonary vein
 From the lung, oxygen-rich blood travels in this vein to the left atrium
 Coronary arteries
 Give the heart oxygen-rich blood so it stays healthy and in working
condition; Two branches of these coronary arteries send the oxygen -rich
blood to where it needs to be in the heart
 Vena cava (superior)
 Oxygen-less blood from the upper parts of the body (head, neck, and
arms) travels in this vein to the right atrium
 Vena cava (inferior)
 Oxygen-less blood from the lower parts of the body (legs, etc) is pumped
through this vein to the right atrium
THE INSIDE OF THE HEART
1. Left atrium
2.Right atrium
3.Left ventricle
4.Right ventricle
5.Valves
6.Septum
1
5
5
2
5
3
5
4
6
WHAT DO THEY DO?
 Left atrium
 Pulmonary veins bring oxygen-rich blood to this chamber; then the blood
goes on to the left ventricle
 Right atrium
 Vena cava sends oxygen-less blood to this chamber; then the blood goes
to the right ventricle
 Left ventricle
 Left atrium, oxygen-rich blood comes here and then to the aorta
 Right ventricle
 Oxygen-less blood from the right atrium comes to this chamber and then
to the pulmonary artery
 Valves
 Ensuring the correct flow of blood throughout the heart and the body,
these “biological gateways” are very important to the heart and the body
 Septum
 Large mass of muscle that separates the left and right side of the heart
PURPOSE OF THE CIRCULATORY SYSTEM
 Without hearts, humans would die. Drop dead. PLOP. That’s the
sound of them falling dead to the floor without their hearts.
 Without the heart and the veins and arteries, detectives and
other crime-solving bosses could not dramatically say, “He’s
dead” because there would not a pulse for them to feel for.
 The pumping of the heart ensures blood flow which distributes
oxygen received from respiration and other much -needed
nutrients received from digestion to the rest of the body.
 Blood also carries the immune system cells to watch out for
infections, and it brings waste to the kidneys and liver to be
filtered and excreted out of the body.
JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE HEART
(AND LUNGS)
PARTS OF
THE BODY
O
O
O
O
O
OTHER
PARTS OF
THE BODY
O
FEEL YOUR HEARTBEAT
 *Cue the The Fray song “Heartbeat”*
 Anyway, your heartbeat is caused when the upper chambers
contract to send blood to the corresponding lower chambers
 To make the heart contract , an “electrical impulse” is
generated by nodes, special cells on the heart
 Once the heart contracts, the blood from the upper chambers
(WHICH ARE CALLED?) flows into the lower chambers (WHICH
ARE CALLED?) through the valves
(Everyone remember what those are????)
 To send the blood out of the heart and into the body, the
nodes work their stuf f again, sending out those handy -dandy
“electrical impulses” that make the ventricles contract,
squeezing the blood out so that it can make its way to the
lungs and the body
LUB-DUB
 What makes that famous LUB sound in the “ lub-dub” heart
beat? VALVES!!!!!! After the blood is squeezed through them, they
snap closed so the blood does not flow back in the heart
 And what about DUB, you say? Well, those valves between the
ventricles and the rest of the body snap shut. More blood
enters the atria and EVERY THING BEGINS ANON .
WHAT’S BLOOD?
 Blood is a tissue of the body in
liquid form
 The water y por tion of blood is
plasma which makes up 55% of
the blood volume. The 45% of the
blood is made up of the blood
cells:
 Red blood cells
 White blood cells
 Platelets
 carries oxygen to the hear t
 takes away carbon dioxide from
body tissue to the lungs
 essential to humans, cleaning and
nourishing the physical bodies to
keep us alive
ARTERIES
 carr y oxygen-rich blood away from the
hear t
 rich red color
 thick walled, excluding the cranium and
ver tebral canals which are thin -walled
 The size and type of an ar ter y depend
on their function
 large, elastic arteries, like the aorta
 small, muscular arteries, like the
temporal or radial arteries
 Inner coat
 Tunica intima
 Middle coat
 Tunica media
 Outer coat (strongest coat)
 Tunica adventitia
VEINS
 Vessels that carry blood
away from peripheral
tissues and toward the
heart (non-oxygenated
blood)
 Blue in color
 Thin walled
 Valves control the
“unidirectional” flow of
the blood (sometimes
against gravity)
 Same 3 layers as arteries
but not as well defined
with poor muscle and
tissue content
CAPILLARIES
 Capillaries and tissues exchange nutrients and metabolites
 Networks of microscopic endothelial tubes b/w the metar terioles and
venules
 There are two types of capillaries:
 Fenestrated: LARGE molecules may pass over the walls
 Examples:
 endocrine glands
 pancreas
 Continuous: small molecules pass over walls
 Examples:
 Skin
 Connective tissue
 Muscles
 Roughly around 6 -8 micron, barely wide enough for cells to file through in
single file; however, their size does dif fer
 Small in brain and intestines
 Large in skin and bone marrow
 The inter stitial fluid and the blood constantly exchange gases, nutrients,
metabolites, and water at the enormous capillar y bed
HOMEOSTASIS
 The cardiovascular system plays such an important role in
homeostasis that the cardiovascular system develops in an
organism during the fourth week after fertilization before any
major organ systems develop
 To maintain a favorable cellular environment, the body
depends on the constant circulation of blood throughout the
body
 The blood must reach the thousands and thousands of
capillaries in every single part of the body, whether it be a
single cell or a whole organ
 The capillary blood carries essential materials and passes the
important nutrients and materials into the cellular fluid and
removes waste products
EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY OF THE
CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM
 Inver tebrate hear ts
 Simple
 Open circulatory system w/ no actual blood vessels or very few blood
vessels
 Blood pumped through tissues then back to pumping mechanism
 No actual heart
 Fish hearts (2 chambers: atrium and ventricle)
 Closed circulatory system
 One large vessel pumps blood to give fish gills oxygen and to the rest of
the body
 Frog hearts (3 chambered heart: Two atria, one ventricle)
 Link between land animals and water animals
 Oxygen-rich and oxygen-less blood separate in the heart
 Turtle hearts (3 ½ chambered heart)
 Partly-formed Septum in heart
 Blood mixes, but timing of ventricle pumping minimizes chance that
the oxygen-rich and oxygen-less blood will mix together
 Human hear ts (4 chambered: Two atria, two ventricles)
 Fully formed septum
Works Cited
The Franklin Institute (2013). Blood: White Blood Cells - The Human Heart: An Online Exploration from The Franklin
Institute, made possible by Unisys. Retrieved March 31, 2013, from
http://www.fi.edu/learn/heart/blood/white.html
National Cancer Institute (2012, November 27). SEER Training: Introduction to the Cardiovascular System. Retrieved
March 31, 2013, from http://training.seer.cancer.gov/anatomy/cardiovascular/
National Geographic (n.d.). Heart, Heart Information, Cardiovascular Facts, News, Photos -- National Geographic.
Retrieved March 31, 2013, from http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/health-and-humanbody/human-body/heart-article.html
OCAL. (2009, May 11). Lungs clip art. Retrieved April 2, 2013, from http://www.clker.com/clipart-lungs-1.html
Scouville, H. (n.d.). Evolution of the Human Heart. Retrieved March 31, 2013, from
http://evolution.about.com/od/humans/a/Evolution-Of-The-Human-Heart.htm
Iqbal, A. (2010). Arteries. Retrieved March 31, 2013, from http://www.mananatomy.com/basic-anatomy/arteries
Iqbal, A. (2010). Capillaries. Retrieved March 31, 2013, from http://www.mananatomy.com/basic-anatomy/capillaries
Iqbal, A. (2011). Components of Cardiovascular System (CVS). Retrieved March 31, 2013, from
http://www.mananatomy.com/basic-anatomy/components-cardiovascular-system-cvs
Iqbal, A. (2010). Veins. Retrieved March 31, 2013, from http://www.mananatomy.com/basic-anatomy/veins