Cardiovascular Systems 1 Flashcards
What are the components of the cardiovascular system?
The heart
Blood vessels
Blood
What are the types of blood vessels?
Arteries
Arterioles
Capillaries
Venules
Veins
Roughly how many L of blood do we have in our body?
4-6L of blood
(variation dependant on size of the body)
What are the two circuits of the cardiovascular system?
Pulmonary Circuit
Systemic Circuit
What occurs in the capillary beds?
Gas exchange
What is the difference between veins and arteries?
Arteries carry blood away from the heart, whereas veins carry blood towards the heart.
Arteries carry oxygenated blood and veins carry deoxygenated blood (with the exception of pulmonary blood vessels).
What is pulmonary circulation of the cardiovascular system?
Pulmonary circulation transports oxygen-poor blood from the right ventricle to the lungs, where blood picks up a new blood supply. Then it returns the oxygen-rich blood to the left atrium.
What is systemic circulation of the cardiovascular system?
Systemic circulation carries oxygenated blood from the left ventricle, through the arteries, to the capillaries in the tissues of the body. From the tissue capillaries, the deoxygenated blood returns through a system of veins to the right atrium of the heart.
What is the difference between the movement of blood in the pulmonary and systemic circuits?
Pulmonary circulation moves blood between the heart and the lungs.
Systemic circulation moves blood between the heart and the rest of the body.
Why do we have a cardiovascular system?
For adequate supply of oxygen and nutrients.
For the removal of unwanted metabolic by-products (Co2 and H+).
To transport substances and heat around the body.
What is the key purpose of the heart?
Acts a pump
What is the heart located within?
In the pericardium
What is the pericardium?
A protective, fluid-filled sac that surrounds your heart and helps it function properly. Your pericardium also covers the roots of your major blood vessels as they extend from your heart.
What type of cells is the heart made up of?
Cardiac muscle cells (myocardium)
What side of the heart is thicker?
The left ventricle of the heart is thicker.
What do fibrocartilaginous rings contain?
Heart valves
What are the two atrioventricular valves?
Mitral valve (left) and tricuspid valve (right)
What are the two semilunar valves?
Aortic valve (left ventricular aorta) and the pulmonary valve (right ventricular pulmonary artery).
What causes valves to open and close?
Pressure gradient
What direction does blood flow?
Unidirectionally - meaning it only flows one direction.
What feature of the heart prevents the backwards flow of blood?
Valves
What is the appearance of cardiac muscle and why?
Striated in appearance due to its repeating units of sarcomeres.
What joins neighbouring cardiac muscle cells?
Gap junctions within intercalated discs.
What influences arterial blood pressure?
Cardiac output and peripheral resistance.
Pressure = Flow x Resistance (MAP = CO x TPR)
What is cardiac output?
Cardiac output is the volume of blood ejected by either ventricle in 1 min (value per ventricle not total heart).
How do you work out CO?
CO = SV (stroke volume) x HR (heart rate)
What are the units for CO?
L.min-1
What are the units for SV?
L.beat-1
What are the units for HR?
Beat.min-1
What is systole?
Ventricular contraction
What is diastole?
Ventricular relaxation
Roughly how many times does our heart beat a minute?
70 beats per minute (therefore 100,800 times a day).
If you miss 5-10 heart beats within a minute what happens?
Unconsciousness
What do mechanical events of the heart maintain?
Blood pressure and blood flow
What do valvular events of the heart create?
Heart sounds
What are the phases of the cardiac cycle?
Diastole: (1) isovolumetric relaxation and (2) ventricular filling.
Systole: (1) isovolumetric contraction and (2) ventricle ejection.
What happens during diastole 1 - isovolumetric relaxation?
All valves are closed = no blood flow in or out.
Minimal ventricular volume
Ventricles are relaxing
Atrial pressure is lower than ventricular therefore the atrium fills with blood returning to the heart.
Atrial pressure rises above ventricular pressure and therefore creates a pressure gradient and the AV valve opens passively causing the ventricular filling to begin.
What does isovolumetric mean?
Volume of blood staying the same
What occurs during Diastole 2 - ventricular filling?
The AV valve is open and the ventricule fills with blood.
It is in this phases that about 90% of the heart filling occurs passively down the pressure gradient.
P wave = trigger for contraction of atrial - this causes the final 10% of filling of the ventricle.
Now that the heart is 100% fill we are at end-diastole volume.
What occurs during systole 1 - isovolumetric contraction?
Ventricles are filled and depolarise.
Ventricles contract and ventricular pressure rises.
AV valves close = first heart sound.
All valves are shut therefore there is no blood flow and no change in blood volume.
Isovolumetric contraction
What occurs during systole 2 - ventricle ejection?
Ventricles continue to contract and build pressure.
Pressure becomes higher than aortic pressure therefore aortic valves open.
Blood ejects into the aorta
Arterial blood volume and arterial pressure increases.
Depolarisation of ventricles = T wave signalling ventricle to relax and pressure falls below aortic pressure. Therefore aortic semilunar valves close = 2nd heart sound.
What percentage of blood ejection occurs in the first 1/3 of ejection time?
2/3
Approx how long does diastole 1 last?
0.05s
Approx how long does Diastole 2 last?
0.6s
How long does systole 1 approx last?
0.05s
How long does systole 2 approx last?
0.3s
What is the aortic pressure during diastole?
80 mmHg
What is aortic pressure during systole?
120 mmHg
What is LV pressure during diastole?
80 mmHg
What is LV pressure during systole?
120 mmHg
What is a healthy ejection fraction?
Between 55 and 60%
What is the third heart sound?
Passive ventricular filling in early diastole - tends to only be heard in the young
What is the P wave of an ECG representing?
Where atrial depolarisation precedes atrial contraction
What does ECG stand for?
Electrocardiogram
What is the QRS complex of an ECG representing?
Ventricular depolarisation preceding ventricular contraction
What is the T wave of an ECG representing?
Ventricular repolarisation and ventricular relaxation
What percentages of the cardiac cycle are diastole and systole?
Diastole approx 2/3
Systole approx 1/3
What part of the cardiac cycle speeds up when our heart rate increases?
The entire cardiac cycle gets faster (both diastolic and systolic cycle will get shorter) - However the diastolic phase shortens more so that we now have 1/3 of our cycle in diastole and 2/3 in systole.
Cells have a high permeability to …, low to … and very low to …?
Cells have high permeability to potassium (K+), low to sodium (Na+) and very low to calcium (Ca2+).
What is depolarisation?
Less negative charge inside the cell compared to outside the cell (generally means that positive charge enters the cell).
What is repolarisation?
More negative charge inside the cell compared to outside the cell.
Where does conduction of an AP in the heart begin?
In the SA node (sinoatrial node) which is located in the top of the right atrium
What is the peacemaker of the heart?
SA node - it gets this name because it determines the frequency of heart beats by initiating AP conduction.
What is the conduction pathway in the heart?
Sinoatrial node (SA node) - origin of the AP
Atrioventricular node (AV node)
Bundle of His
Purkinje fibers
Cardiomyocytes
Where is the AV node located?
The base of the right atrium
What is functional syncytium?
A functional syncytium refers to a group of cells that function as a single unit while still maintaining their individual cellular role.
Is the heart a functional syncytium?
Yes. As all cells are attached through gap junctions every AP in the heart propagates through all cells = all or nothing contraction.
Approximately how many AP does the SA node generate per minute?
100
Approximately what speed are AP conducted through the atrium?
0.5 ms-1
Where in the heart is AP conduction slowest?
AV node (0.05ms-1)
What does the delay in conduction at the AV node allow for?
The delay permits full depolarisation and contraction of the atria before depolarisation and contaction of the ventricles.
In other words it means that the entire heart doesn’t contract at the same time and thus allows for the “top up period”.
Where is AP propagation the fastest?
Bundle of His, Bundle Branches and Purkinje Fibers: at approximately 5.0 ms-1
Approximately what speed does an AP spread in ventricular myocardium?
0.5 ms-1
What do purkinje fibres allow for?
Synchronous depolarisation and contraction of all ventricular regions (due to wide spread branching)
What cells are the “leaders” in the heart?
Pacemaker cells - SA node - origin of AP
What are “followers” in the heart?
Ventricular cells - Cardiomyocytes - (they are followers because they do nothing until an AP to reaches them)
How many phases do pacemaker cells have?
3
Phases 4, 0 and 3
How many phases do ventricular cells have?
5
Phases: 4, 0, 1, 2 and 3