3. Heart & Circulation Flashcards
2 factors determining whether an organism needs a transport system
- SA to volume ratio: could nutrients reach all parts of the organism by diffusion alone?
- How active is the organism?
6 important common features of transport systems
- Suitable medium to carry nutrients - usually a liquid (blood)
- Closed system of tubes (blood vessels)
- Form of mass transport in which liquid is moved in bulk over large distances/faster than diffusion (heart)
- Mechanisms to maintain movement in one direction (valves, maintaining a high pressure)
- Means of controlling the flow to different parts of the organisms (constriction/dilation of blood vessels)
- Mechanisms for gas exchange
What is meant by a closed circulatory system?
Blood stays/is contained within the blood vessels
What is the advantage of a double circulatory system?
Blood goes through the heart twice
Different pressures: high in systemic circuit, low in pulmonic circuit
What is the blood vessel going from the heart to the gut called?
Mesenteric artery
What does the hepatic portal vein do?
Blood goes to the liver so that excess glucose can be removed & stored as glycogen
Toxins can also be removed
All the layers of a blood vessel (innermost to outermost)
Lumen Endothelium Elastic tissue Muscle layer Tough fibrous outer layer
Describe the endothelium
Smooth & flat
Function of the tough fibrous outer layer
Prevents damage
Why do veins have a lower pressure than arteries?
Pressure comes from the heart, so by the time blood gets to the veins the pressure is much lower
Function of thick muscular layer in arteries
Allows them to constrict & dilate to control the volume of blood flowing to particular organs
Do veins need to constrict or dilate?
No
Function of thick elastic layer in arteries
Allows for stretch & recoil as the heart beats
Function of gaps between cells in capillary wall
Allows WBCs to leave capillaries and enter tissues (esp. phagocytes)
How thick is the endothelial cell wall in capillaries?
One cell thick; short diffusion distance!
Elaborate on the narrow lumen in capillaries?
- RBCs pushed up against the capillary wall: reducing diffusion distance
- Whole blood vessel is narrow: it can fit between cells in the tissue. No cell is far from a capillary.
What is tissue fluid?
Fluid that bathes the cells. Water with solutes such as glucose, amino acids etc dissolved in it.
How is tissue fluid formed?
High hydrostatic pressure in arteriole end of the capillary: water & small molecules are forced out of the capillaries through the small pores in the capillary walls (ultrafiltration).
Plasma forced out of capillaries to become tissue fluid.
What happens in the venules (tissue fluid)?
Lower hydrostatic pressure in venule end of capillary than in tissue fluid, so fluid moves back into capillaries.
Low WP in capillaries because lots of water was forced out at the arteriole end. This means water moves from the tissue fluid into the blood vessel by osmosis.
What is meant by excess tissue fluid, and where does it go?
Tissue fluid that didn’t move back into the capillaries
It drains into the lymphatic system
What do heartstrings do?
Stop the valves from opening the wrong way
Why is the wall of the left ventricle thicker than the right?
Needs to be able to contract with enough force to produce enough pressure to push blood around the body
Is the right AV valve the tricuspid or bicuspid?
Tricuspid
Do the left and right sides of the heart contract together or separately?
TOGETHER
What is diastole?
When the heart relaxes