B/Z - The Human Heart Flashcards
How many chambers are in the human heart?
4
Left/right atria and left/right ventricles
What is the human heart?
A hollow, muscular organ made up of 4 chambers that alternately fill and empty with blood, acting as a double pump.
Which side pumps for the systemic circuit?
Left
Which circuit’s pump is on the right side of the heart?
Pulmonary
What is an infarction?
An INFARCTION is an obstruction of the blood supply to an organ or region of tissue, typically by a thrombus (blood clot) or embolus (un-anchored fragment of blood clot), causing local death of the tissue.
What is an arteriole?
A small branch of an artery leading into a capillary.
What is the name of a very small vein that receives blood from capillaries?
Venule
Why are the walls of the systemic circuit thicker than those of the pulmonary circuit?
The systemic circuit operates at a higher pressure than the pulmonary circuit.
Why does the pulmonary circuit operate at a much lower pressure than the systemic circuit?
To prevent fluid from accumulating in the alveoli of the lungs.
The left side of the heart must develop enough ‘spare’ pressure for what 2 purposes:
1) to enable increased blood flow to muscles
2) to maintain kidney filtration rates
…without decreasing the blood supply to the brain.
The high oxygen demands of the heart are met by…
a dense capillary network
C_____ arteries rise from the ____ and spread over the surface of the heart, supplying the cardiac muscle with _________ blood.
CORONARY arteries rise from the AORTA and spread over the surface of the heart, supplying the cardiac muscle with OXYGENATED blood.
What are you recording when you take a pulse?
The expansion and recoil of the artery that occurs with each contraction of the left ventricle.
