Cardiovascular System Flashcards
The cardiovascular system is made up of four main organs. What are these four organs called and what is there basic function?
Heart: pump
Arteries: supply
Capillaries: exchange
Veins/lymphatics: drainage
Organs are made up of
vascular tissue
Vascular tissue is made up of what two things?
Connective tissues and cells
What two cell types are involved in the cardiovascular system?
Epithelial cells
muscle cells
What is the purpose of the cardiovascular system?
to transport blood to the tissue around the body to exchange nutrients, oxygen and waste
The cardiovascular system consists of what two smaller systems?
- blood vascular system
- lymphatic (vascular) system
Describe the blood vascular system
This is a closed supply and drainage system (a continuous loop) with the heart at the centre supplying capillaries and draining back to the heart via the veins
Describe the lymphatic system
Some of the fluid leaves the closed loop of the blood vascular system and goes through into surrounding tissue. The purpose of the lymphatic system to drain that fluid and bring it back into the vascular system on the right side of the heart (one way drainage)
What are the two parts of the cardiovascular system (oxygenation)?
Pulmonary circuit
Systematic circuit
Briefly describe the pulmonary circuit
Deoxygenated blood travels from the heart to the lungs to be oxygenated (gas exchange) and then return to the heart.
Briefly describe the systematic circuit
Oxygenated blood leaves the heart and travels to the tissues via arteries and deoxygenated blood returns to the heart via veins
What are the three primary principles of the cardiovascular system?
Supply
Exchange circuit
Drainage
Describe the supply side of the cardiovascular system
- arteries are the only supply path
- oxygenated blood is pushed out of the heart at high pressure and high velocity into the arteries
- major arteries are situated to avoid damage (eg. deep in the trunk, flexor aspect aspect of limbs)
- important structures (eg. brain and hands) often receive supply from two sources
What’s the difference between arteries and veins?
Arteries are thin, high pressure, high velocity and carry blood out of the heart.
Veins are thicker, low pressure, low velocity and carry blood back to the heart
Describe the exchange side of the cardiovascular system
this involves the capillaries of varying permeability
- continuous (these are tightly controlled with a continuous cellular barrier of epithelial cells)
- fenestrated (leaky because of the little openings called fenestrations so solutions can enter or leave)
- sinusoidal (very leaky exchange)
Describe the drainage side of the cardiovascular system
- deep veins (opposite to deep supply arteries)
- superficial veins (eg. in the hand)
- lymphatics (blood leaves the interstitial space)
The cross-sectional area of veins/arteries is at least twice that of veins/arteries?
veins
arteries
Describe the shape of the heart
- blunt, cone shaped
- pointed end (apex)
- broad end (at the top) is the base
Describe the location of the heart
- in the media sternum between the two pleural cavities
- rotated to the left and tilted so that the base is tilting to the posterior
- the base is between the 2-3 numbered ribs and the apex is halfway along from the clavicle and down to between the 5-6 ribs
What are the three layers of the heart wall
- endocardium
- myocardium
- epicardium
What is the innermost tissue of the heart?
endocardium
What is the middle tissue of the heart?
myocardium
What is the outer tissue of the heart?
epicardium
Describe the endocardium layer of the heart wall
- squamous epithelium (endothelium)
- loose irregular fibrous connective tissue (FCT) for support
- small blood vessels
- Purkinje fibres
List two diseases of the blood vascular system
- coronary artery disease (heart disease)
- cerebrovascular diseases (stroke)
State a disease of the lymphatic system
spread of metastases (cancers)
Where can you find the labelled heart and a description of what the parts do?
On the wall
How does the left and right ventricles differ in terms of thickness of the myocardial (heart wall)?
The left side supplying the aorta is 1.5 cm thick whereas the right side supplying the pulmonary arteries is 0.5 cm thick
Describe the epicardium layer of the heart wall
- has a visceral pericardium which is part of the pericardium that has fused with the epicardium
- has large blood vessels
- has loose regular FCT and adipose/fat
What is the heart surrounded by?
The pericardium
Describe the pericardium including its relationship with the epicardium
The pericardium is a lubricated membranous sac that the heart sits in. It consists of fibrous pericardium and serous pericardium. The two layered serous pericardium is made up of a parietal layer and a visceral layer. These layers are separated by a fluid-filled space called the pericardial cavity. The visceral serous pericardium fuses with the epicardium
See slide 25 for a diagram
What is the function of the superior vena carva?
transporting deoxygenated blood from above the diaphragm (ie. head/chest/neck) to the right atrium of the heart
What is the function of the inferior vena carva?
transporting deoxygenated blood from below the diaphragm (everything apart from head/chest/neck) to the right atrium of the heart
What is the function of the left and right pulmonary artery?
To transport deoxygenated blood from the right ventricle to the left and right lung for oxygenation
What is the function of the left and right pulmonary veins?
To take deoxygenated blood to the left atrium of the heart from the left and right lungs
What is the function of the right atrium?
To receive deoxygenated from the superior and inferior vena carvae and the coronary sinus and transport it through the tricuspid valve to the right ventricle.
What is the function of the Pulmonary semilunar valve?
To prevent blood returning to right ventricle during filling (diastole)
What is the function of the coronary sinus?
To carry deoxygenated blood from the heart back to the right atrium
What is the function of the tricuspid valve?
To prevent blood from returning to the right atria during ventricular contraction
What is the function of the chordae tendinae?
To stop the tricupsid from slamming shut and flicking through to the other side
What is the function of the right ventricle?
Pumping blood to the lungs for oxygenation via the pulmonary arteries
What is the function of the papillary muscles?
These muscles connect the chordae tendinae to the free edge of the atroventricular valves to stop them from slamming shut
What is the function of the interventricular septum?
To separate the left and right ventricles
What is the function of the left ventricle?
To pump oxygenated blood through the aortic semilunar valve to the aorta to enter the systemic system
What is the function of the bicupsid valve?
To prevent blood from returning to the left atria during ventricular contraction
What is the function of the aortic semilunar valve?
To prevent blood returning to left ventricle during filling (diastole)
What is the function of the left pulmonary artery?
To transport deoxygenated blood from the right ventricle to the lungs to be oxygenated
What is the function of the aorta
To transport oxygenated blood from the left ventricle to the systemic system
What is the function of the left atrium?
To receive oxygenated blood from the pulmonary veins to transport through the bicupsid valve to the right ventricle.
Describe the atrioventricular valves, including the function and what they are called on the left and right side:
Function: prevent blood returning to the atria during ventricular contraction
right side: tricuspid valve
left side: bicuspid valve
At what stage are the AV valves open?
during diastole (filling phase)
At what stage are the AV valves closed?
during systole
Where are the AV valves located?
Between an atrium and a ventricle
Describe the semilunar valves, including the function and what they are called on the left and right side:
Function: prevent blood retuning to the ventricles during filling (diastole)
right side: pulmonary (semilunar) valve
left side: aortic (semilunar) valve
They are pushed open as blood flows out of the heart and closed as blood starts to backflow
How many cusps does the pulmonary (semilunar) valve have?
3
How many cusps does the aortic (semilunar) valve have?
3
At what stage are the semilunar valves open?
during systole
At what stage are the semilunar valves closed?
during diastole
Where are the semilunar valves located?
Between a ventricle and a exit tube (either the pulmonary artery or the aorta)
Describe the flow of blood into the heart from the heart
Immediately branching off the aorta are the right and left coronary arteries.
The RCA supplies the ventricular wall of the right ventricle.
The LCA branches to go over the inter ventricular septum and becomes the circumflex artery and the anterior inter ventricular artery which enters the left ventricle. The circumflex artery wraps between the left atrium and the left ventricle
Which side of the heart needs more blood supply and why?
The left side needs more blood supply because there is more muscle to pump the blood further around the systemic system
Describe the flow of blood out of the heart
The deoxygenated blood from the left side of the heart drains into the great cardiac vein and the deoxygenated blood from the right side of the heart drains into the small cardiac vein.
Both of the cardiac veins drain into the coronary sinus to enter the left atrium
Describe cardiac muscles
Similar to both smooth muscle and skeletal muscle:
one central nucleus like smooth muscle
striated like skeletal muscle
How thick are the capillary walls and why?
There are only one red blood cell thick because to bring them closest to the interstitial space to allow for maximum gas exchange as the distance is short
What is the function of myocardium?
beating of the heart
What are capillaries made of?
endothelium cells wrapped around to form a circle
Describe the cardiac muscle structure:
- are the striated?
- what do the cells look like?
- how many nuclei per cell?
- what do the nuclei look like?
- where are the cytoplasmic poles packed?
- how are they interconnected to neighbouring cells?
- striated
- short branched cells
- usually one nuclei per cell
- central, oval shaped nucleus
- cytoplasmic poles packed at the poles of the nucleus
- interconnected with neighbouring cells via intercalated disks
What is an intercalated disk (ICD)?
a specialisation of cardiac muscle
What percentage of the volume of the cell is made up of mitochondria?
Why is this significant?
20%
this mean that there is a very high ATP driven metabolism which is needed for the high energy requirements of cardiac muscle to beat
An intercalated disk is made up of what three intercellular junctions?
- Adhesion belts
- desmosomes
- gap junction
Describe the role of the adhesion belt
Link the actin in one cell to the actin of another cell so that when the sarcomere in one cell contracts, it tugs on the actin of another cell to physically stimulate contraction.
How does an adhesion belt work?
by physical propagation of contraction
Do adhesion belts work in the vertical or horizontal portion?
vertical
Describe the role of a desmosome in an ICD
It links the cytokeratin of one cell to the cytokeratin of another cell with a lot of force (their skeletons are essentially buttoned together)
What is the cytokeratin?
A cell’s flexible skeleton
Describe the role of a gap junction
For electrochemical communication from myocyte to myocyte to allow synchronisation between these short stubby cells to allow them to function as one long cell
Do desmosomes work in the vertical or horizontal portion and why?
vertical because it is perpendicular to the plane of contraction so you need them there to hold the neighbouring cells together
Do gap junctions work in the vertical or horizontal portion and why?
horizontal
Why is the conduction system of the heart important?
so that the filling and ejecting of the heart occurs in a synchronised motion
What is the purpose of the conduction system of the heart?
for coordination of heart contraction and atrioventricular valve action
How does the conduction system of the heart function?
by autonomic nerves altering the rate of conduction impulse generation
What are Purkinje fibres?
modified cardiac muscles
Briefly describe the conduction pathways of the heart
The first part of the conduction pathway is on the superior aspect of the right atrium. This is the sinoatrial node. It spreads through the atrial chamber by pathways called internodal pathways. When exiting the atrial chamber to enter the ventricular chamber, the pathways come together to form the atrioventricular node. This leads into the AV bundle which splits to the right and left bundle branches. The terminal parts of the network are Purkinje fibres.
Conduction pathways of the heart are not ______ _______ but _______ ________ ________
nervous tissue
modified cardiac muscle
What is the sinoatrial (SA) node?
a little cluster of cells that spontaneously conduct action potentials, the rate of which are increased by sympathetic nerves or decreased by parasympathetic nerves
What is the purpose of the left and right bundle branches?
They are specialised pathways making sure that after contraction of the atrium occurs, we shoot the contraction down towards the apex to get contraction from the apex back up, not just as a continuous wave from the atria into the ventricles
Describe Purkinje cells
Differentiated myofibrils with
- central nucleus
- mitochondria
- glycogen
- lots of gap junctions
- some desmosomes
- a few adhesion belts
- make up 1% of cardiac muscle
Describe the pathway from the aorta to the sole of the feet
- The ascending, arching and descending thoracic aorta become the abdominal aorta which travels through the diaphragm.
- It leaves the thoracic cavity and splits at the aortic bifurcation into the common iliac artery. This branches down into the pelvic bowl to the exterior iliac artery.
- The EIA passes under the inguinal ligament and becomes the femoral artery until it reaches the knee.
Here is passes behind the knee as the politeal artery. - Below the knee it splits into the posterior tibial artery (behind the tibia) which travels to the arches of the foot, and the anterior tibial artery (in front of the tibia) which travels to the top of the foot
Describe the pathways from the sole of the feet to the inferior vena cava
The plantar venous arch travels to the posterior tibial vein next to the posterior tibial artery. It hits the popliteal vein, the femoral vein, under the inguinal ligament to the exterior iliac artery and the common iliac artery and into the big vein that runs through the abdominopelvic cavity to the inferior vena carva
Describe the vein that is not matched by an artery
The great saphenous vein is superficial and so is not matched by an artery. It travels from the medial malleolus to the groin
What are the three layers of the blood vessels?
- tunica intima
- tunica media
- tunica adventitia
What constitutes the blood vessels?
Heart valves, veins, arteries, capillaries
Describe the tunica intima
consists of:
- endothelium: a simple squamous epithelium which lines the lumen of all vessels
- sub-endothelium: a pad of loose FCT for the endothelium to sit on to support the delicate cells
- Internal elastic lamina: a condensed sheet of elastic tissue
Describe the purpose of internal elastic lamina
Because it is rich in elastin, it can store energy. Therefore it can take up energy and expand under pressure and re exert energy when the pressure decreases
The internal elastic lamina is well-developed in _______ and less developed in __________
arteries
veins
The internal elastic lamina forms the boundary between
the tunica intima and the tunica media
Describe the tunica media
made up of smooth muscle and a variable content of connective tissue fibres, mainly collagen and elastin