Cardio Respiratory - Week 1 The heart Flashcards
What are the cardiac muscles? (1)
Specialised form of striated muscles
What are the two roles of the heart? (2)
Supply oxygenated blood containing nutrients (e.g. glucose) to the major organs.
Remove waste products formed during metabolism (e.g. via the lungs and kidneys).
Where is the heart positioned in the body? (4)
Located behind sternum
Extends from the 2nd to the 5th rib
About 12-14 cm long
Weighs about 250-350 g
The circulation can be divided into three separate parallel circuits.
What are they? (3)
Pulmonary (lungs)
Coronary (heart)
Systemic (rest of body)
During coronary circulation, what is Arterial Blood Supply? (3)
Oxygenated blood is supplied to the heart muscle via the left and right coronary arteries
These arteries branch directly from the base of the aorta
During coronary circulation, what is venous drainage? (3)
Venous blood drains into the coronary sinus and then into the right atrium
From there to the lungs via the pulmonary circuit for reoxygenation
What is systemic circulation? (2)
Provides oxygenated blood for the organs and tissues of the body
The left ventricle pumps blood into the aorta which then branches into smaller arteries
What blood does the left side pump? (1)
Pumps oxygenated blood
What blood does the right side pump? (1)
Pumps deoxygenated blood
Which ventricle has a thicker wall? (1)
Left ventricle
What is the heart enclosed in? (2)
The outer layer (fibrous pericardium)
The inner, visceral, layer (serous pericardium)
What is the role of the outer layer (fibrous pericardium)? (1)
Protects, anchors and also prevents the heart overfilling with blood
What is the role of the inner, visceral, layer (serous pericardium)? (1)
Extends to cover the epicardial surface of the muscular wall of the heart.
What does the pericardial cavity contain and do? (3)
Filled with a fluid
Lubricates the serous pericardium membrane and allows the two membranes to glide over each other
Heart can stay mobile when it is pumping
What are the 4 heart valves? (4)
Right side: The atrio-ventricular (AV) valve has three cusps and is called the tricuspid valve
Left side: the AV valve has only two cusps and is called the bicuspid or Mitral valve
Semilunar valves located at the entrance of the ventricular outflow tracts - pulmonary valve and aortic valve
How many cusps do the semi lunar valves have? (1)
3
How do the valves work? (2)
They open and close in response to the pressure gradient across them
Larger pressure downstream of the value (valves close)
What are the specialised muscles in ventricles called? (2)
Papillary muscles
Attach to atrioventricular valve
What is the role of papillary muscles? (2)
Blood returning to the heart fills the atria putting pressure on the A-V valves which forces them open.
When the ventricles contract, pressure is higher in the ventricle than atrium and so the valve is forced shut.
Muscles help to create tension on atrioventricular valves to remain shut and all blood is ejected out pulmonary artery and aorta
They do not pull the valve close but prevent back flow of blood into atria.
What are the different cell types within the heart? (5)
Fibroblasts
Endothelial Cells
Smooth muscle cells
Conduction cells
Cardiomyocytes
What are fibroblasts? (3)
Contribute to the extracellular matrix
– providing mechanical support
Provide fixture for contractile cells
What are endothelial cells? (1)
Contribute to the lining of blood vessels
What are smooth muscle cells? (1)
In coronary arteries and veins
What are conduction cells? (1)
Generation and passing of electrical impulses
What are cardiomyocytes? (2)
Form the contractile apparatus of the atria and ventricles
Make up predominant mass of the heart - 70% of the mass
Describe the cellular structure of cardiac muscles (4)
Cardiac muscle appears as a latticework of cells
Ventricular myocytes ~ 120 micrometer long and approximately 30 micrometer wide
Rich in glycogen, myoglobin
Large number of mitochondria
Why does the cardiac muscles have mitochondria? (2)
Reflects the high energy demands of this tissue
Around 30% of ventricular myocytes is occupied by mitochondria
What are intercalated discs? (1)
Where one cell meets another there is a step-like cell to cell junction called the intercalated disc
What are the two roles of intercalated discs? (2)
They act to firmly bind adjacent cells together (mechanical coupling - one cell contracts and the other also pulls so they contract together ) but also to allow electrical coupling between adjacent cells - electrical signalling can pass throughout the heart
What are desmosomes? (3)
Cells are tightly adhered tighter
Occur on transverse section of intercalated discs
Involved in mechanical coupling
In mechanical coupling what are the small gaps? (1)
There is a small gap (0.02 micrometer) between the membranes of adjacent cells filled with connective tissue
What are the components in electrical coupling? (3)
Longitudinal area of close contact = nexus or gap junction
Arrays of proteins called connexins are found here
These allow the passage of ions and other small molecules between one cell and another - allow electrical signal to pass from one cell to another
What is the nexus and how does it relate to the function of the heart? (4)
The nexus provides electrical coupling between neighbouring cells
As a result ionic currents pass between neighbouring cells, evoking an action potential in the second cell.
The result of this is that the heart behaves electrically as a single cell- functional syncytium
Cardiac muscle obeys the all or nothing principle - one cell contracts within the heart this signal propagest in the heart and the whole heart contracts
The heart is myogenic. What does this mean? (3)
Not neurogenic - does not rely on neuronal input to contract and generate action potential
Stimulate its own action potential
Done by specialised conductive tissue within the heart
What is the all or nothing principle of the cardiac muscles? (2)
One cell contracts within the heart this signal propagates in the heart and the whole heart contracts
What are the three properties of the heart? (3)
Excitability
Conductivity
Automaticity
What is excitability of the heart? (1)
Generate its own action potential
What is conductivity of the heart? (1)
Property of the tissue to allow to propagation the signal
What is automaticity of the heart? (1)
It doesn’t rely on an external source to product action potentials
How does the heart controls and coordinates the regular contraction of the atria and ventricles (9)
Sino atrial node sends waves/electrical activity across both atria
Both atria contract
Layer of nonconductive tissue prevents wave reaching ventricles
Wave of electrical activity reaches atrioventricular node
0.1 second delay allowing atria to empty full of blood
Wave of electrical activity sent from the atrioventricular node
Down the bundle of His to the base of the ventricles
Up the Purkinje fibres
Causing the ventricles to contract from the apex of the heart upwards
The action potential spreads rapidly away from SA node throughout the atrial muscle. This occurs via two pathways. What are these? (3)
Excitation of the atria (SAN)
(i) from cell to cell via intercalated disks
(ii) via a specialised conduction pathway: ‘The internodal tract’