Cardiovascular System Part 3 - Heart Conductivity and Blood Vessels Flashcards
in order to contract our heart, we have a group called?
self-excitable cardiac muscle cells
- very specially designed so that they can initiate the signal to tell the heart muscle to contract
- they do not need the nervous system to tell them to do anything (self-excitable)
the first clump of the self-excitable cardiac muscle cells are found where?
at the sinoatrial (SA) node (right at the top near the right atrium, close to where the superior vena cava enters)
what is the SA node often referred to as?
the pacemaker of the heart
what is the SA node made of?
modified cardiac muscle cells that are capable of generating an electrical signal that causes heart contractions
the SA node in semi-controlled by?
the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system
what does the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system control in the SA node?
speeding up or slowing down the electrical signal of the heart beat
what generates the electrical signal of the SA node that controls the heart beating?
the SA node
how often does the SA node on its own send a signal for the heart to beat?
100 times in a minute at rest
the SA node on its own at rest produces 100bpm, however at rest, average is 70bpm. how is that?
there is a parasympathetic signal which travels down the vagus nerve to the SA node that slows it down from 100 to 70
what is it called when the parasympathetic nervous system calms down the SA node and its 100bpm?
vagal tone
what happens when we need our heart rate to increase?
the sympathetic nervous system is going to send then opposite signal as the parasympathetic through the vagus nerve to the SA node to increase the heart rate
what sends the original electrical signal of the heart beat all over the atria, causing it to contract and fill up the ventricle?
the SA node
once the signal is sent from the SA node, where does it go?
another clump of modified cardiac muscle cells on the floor of the right atrium called the atrioventricular (AV) node
what happens when the AV node picks up the signal from the SA node?
it transfers the signal down to the atrioventricular (AV) bundle (Bundle of His)
after the signal is given to the bundle of His, what happens?
the bundle splits to give right and left bundle branches
what happens to the right and left bundle branches?
they each branch around each of the ventricles into purkinje fibers
what do the purkinje fibers do?
deliver the signal throughout the ventricles and then a coordinated contraction happens at both of the ventricles and then the papillary muscles within the ventricle
what happens when blood leaves the heart?
it goes into very large arteries which is called elastic arteries
why are all the arteries that are closest to the heart very large?
because they have to handle a lot of blood at once
are arteries more elastic if they are closer to the heart or farther from the heart?
arteries are more elastic is there are closer to the heart because the pressure closer to the left ventricle is very high so they have to withstand the pressure of the huge force of blood coming into them
why do the arteries become smaller and smaller as we move further from the heart?
because there is so much branching and each one has less and less blood in it
- blood gets really spread out around the body
what are our muscular arteries?
our smaller arteries and have less elasticity than our elastic arteries
what are our arterioles?
our smallest artery
what is smaller than our arterioles?
our capillaries