Circulatory System Flashcards
How does having a gastrovascular cavity allow gases, nutrients, and wastes to move in and out of the body?
Because diffusion is rapid over short distances, one adaptation is to place most or all cells in contact with the outside environment.
How does having a circulatory system allow gases, nutrients, and wastes to move in and out of the body?
A circulatory system can move fluid between each cell’s immediate surrounding the body tissues where exchange with the environment occurs.
What are the three components of a circulatory system?
- Circulatory fluid
- Interconnecting vessels
- Heart
What is a heart?
A heart is a muscular pump that drives circulation.
What is the purpose of the heart?
It elevates the circulatory fluid’s hydrostatic pressure, powering it to flow through the vessels and back to the heart.
What are the two types of circulatory systems?
- Open
- Closed
What is the circulatory fluid in open c. systems?
The fluid is called hemolymph and is both the circulatory fluid and the interstitial fluid.
Which type of organisms have open c. systems?
Arthropods, insects, and some mollusks.
What are the pros of having an open c. system?
Less costly since there is lower pressure.
What are the cons of having an open c. system?
Lower transport efficiency and local regulation.
What is the circulatory fluid in closed c. systems?
Blood, which is confined to the vessels.
Which type of organisms have closed c. systems?
Annelids, cephalopods, and vertebrates.
What are the pros of having a closed c. system?
Higher transport efficiency and local regulation.
What are the cons of having a closed c. system?
Energetically costly (higher pressure).
Describe the general structure of a vertebrate heart.
It contains one or two pumps, each with two muscular chambers. Atria receive blood entering the heart while ventricles pump blood out of the heart.
What are the characteristics of a single circulation system?
The heart has one pump, and the blood passes through two capillary beds, which reduces blood pressure.
What are the characteristics of a double circulation system?
The heart has two pumps. The first delivers blood to the oxygenating tissues, while the second receives oxygenated blood and delivers it to the internal tissues.
Where does blood go after the right ventricle?
The right ventricle pumps blood to the lungs via the pulmonary arteries; in the capillary beds, blood loads O2 and unloads CO2.
Where does blood go after the pulmonary arteries and capillary beds?
Blood flows via the pulmonary veins to the left atrium of the heart.
Where does blood go after the left atrium?
Oxygenated blood flows into the left ventricle, which pumps it into the systemic circuit via the aorta.
Where does blood go after the left ventricle?
The aorta delivers blood to capillary beds in the head and forelimbs, and capillary beds in the abdominal organs and legs.
Where does blood go after the aorta and capillary beds?
Oxygen-poor blood is funneled into two large veins: the superior vena cava and the inferior vena cava.
Where does blood go after the venae cava?
The two venae cava empty their blood into the right atrium, and blood moves to the right ventricle.
Where does the heart have valves?
It has four valves–one between each atrium and each ventricle. It also has a valve from the right ventricle into the pulmonary arteries and a valve from the left ventricle into the aorta.
What is the purpose of the heart valves?
They prevent backflow of blood.
How does blood pass from an atrium into a ventricle?
It passively flows in.
What happens when a ventricle contracts?
- It pushes the valve between the atrium and ventricle closed.
- It pushes the blood forward.
What does systole mean?
Contraction
What does diastole mean?
Relaxation
What is cardiac output?
The blood pumped per minute by each ventricle (about 5 L)
What is heart rate?
The frequency of cardiac cycles, in beats per minute (about 72 bpm)
What is stroke volume?
The blood pumped by a ventricle in a contraction (about 70 ml).
What is cardiac output?
The heart rate x stroke volume.
What is a heart murmur?
The backflow of blood in the heart.
What is the cardiac cycle?
The complete sequence of contraction and relaxation of the heart.
Where does a heartbeat originate?
The heartbeat originates within the heart: electrical impulses travel via gap junctions that connect cardiac muscle cells.
What does the sinoatrial node do?
Auto-rhythmic cells clustered in the SA node produce the electrical impulses and are the pacemaker.
What does the atrioventricular node do?
Impulses from the SA node trigger atrial contraction, and 0.1 sec later the AV node fires, contracting the ventricles.
What factors affect the pacemaker of the heart?
- Temperature
- Hormones like epinephrine
- Sympathetic innervation (increases)
- Parasympathetic innervation (decreases)
What happens after the SA node fires?
Its signal travels to both atria and tells them to contract.
Where is the SA node located?
The right atrium.
What happens when information reaches the AV node?
There is a pause; signal is delayed at the AV node. Then, it will fire.
Why is the pause at the AV node important?
The ventricle has to wait until it’s been filled by the atrial contraction before the ventricles themselves contract.
What happens after the AV node fires?
This signal passes through bundle branches to the heart apex and then to the ventricles, causing them to contract.
Describe the structure of blood vessels.
Blood vessels contain a central lumen lined by an endothelium. Arteries and veins are surrounded by smooth muscle and elastic connective tissue.
What impacts the flow and pressure of arteries and veins?
The contraction of smooth muscle.
How does the thickness of the walls of arteries and veins compare?
The walls (smooth muscle) of arteries are much thicker than those of veins, and recoil between contractions, maintaining blood pressure.
How large is the diameter of capillaries?
The diameter is slightly greater than a red blood cell (erythrocyte). This is where chemical exchange happens.
When is arterial pressure greatest?
During ventricular systole: systolic pressure, which is felt as a pulse.
When is arterial pressure lowest?
During ventricular diastole: diastolic pressure.
How does the cross-sectional area of the blood vessels change as the blood flows from the heart?
The blood leaves the heart through the aorta, which has a diameter of about 5 cm. From there, the arteries split and split, increasing the cross-sectional area. When they transition into veins, the cross-sectional area begins to decrease as the blood moves back to the heart.
How does the cross-sectional area of the aorta compare to the summed area of the veins that enter the heart?
The area of the veins is larger.
How does the cross-sectional area of the blood vessels affect the velocity of the blood?
The velocity of the blood drops dramatically when it hits the capillaries (the highest cross-sectional area) and increases again when it leaves.
Why does blood pressure decrease when the blood reaches the capillaries?
The capillaries have the highest cross-sectional area, so when the blood is in the capillaries, a lot of space is created, causing the blood pressure to decrease.
Why does the velocity of the blood increase after leaving the capillaries and entering the veins?
- Even though your pressure has decreased, because you are joining the blood vessels back together, there is less space to pass the blood through. This means the blood simply has to pass through there faster.
- Veins reduce friction.
- The blood is moving to the right atrium–an area of extremely low pressure.
What modulates blood pressure?
Cardiac output and smooth muscle contraction.