Lecture 9 - Cardiovascular System Flashcards
What is the cardiovascular system composed of? (3)
- heart
- blood vessels
- blood
What is the function of the circulatory system?
- transport essential materials (oxygen, fuel molecules, hormones, etc.) throughout the body to cells where they are needed and to collect cell products (carbon dioxide, lactate, urea, etc.) generated by metabolic activity
What are the 2 sections that the circulatory system is divided into? Describe them briefly.
Circulatory system is divided into two sections:
(a) Pulmonary circuit - blood vessels going to and from the lungs
(b) Systemic circuit - blood vessels going to and from the rest of the tissues of the body
Describe the heart
- a four chamber muscular pump which propels body through the blood vessels
Define: atria
- the two upper chambers of the heart
Define: ventricles
- the two lower chambers
Define: septum
- divides the left and right sides of the heart
How do the left and right ventricles of the heart differ? (2)
- The right ventricle pumps blood through the pulmonary circuit while the left ventricle pumps blood through the systemic circuit.
- The wall of the left ventricle is thicker than the wall of the right ventricle because the systemic circulation is a much higher-pressure system than the pulmonary circulation.
What controls the direction of bloodflow through the heart?
- valves
Describe a heart murmur
- noise created by blood regurgitating due to damaged valve
Describe: myocardium
- muscle of the heart
How do the cells of the cardiac muscle differ from the skeletal muscle?
Unlike skeletal muscle, all of the fibers or cells in cardiac muscle are anatomically interconnected - functional syncytium. When one fiber contracts, all fibers around it contract.
How do the fibers of the atria differ from the fibers of the ventricles?
The fibers of the atria are electrically separate from the fibers of the ventricles.
Where does the heart contractile rhythm originate?
- posterior wall of the right atrium where the SA node is located
State the pathway of conduction of the wave of depolarisation (cardiac impulse) across the heart
- S-A node (pacemaker)
- Atrial muscle fibers → contraction of atria
- Internodal Pathway (only electrical connection atria to ventricle)
- A-V node → A-V bundle → left and right bundle branches
- Purkinjie fibers travel throughout the ventricles
- simultaneous contraction of the left and right ventricles.
The wave of depolarisation is delayed in the A-V node for approximately .10 seconds. WHy?
gives the atria time to contract and empty their contents into the ventricles.
Give the function of Electrocardiography (ECG)
- record the wave of depolarization as it passes across the heart using electrodes on the surface of the body.
State the components of a normal ECG waveform and give what they represent
- P wave - represents atrial depolarization
- QRS wave - represents ventricular depolarization
- T wave - represents ventricular repolarization
- be able to draw and label a normal ECG!
define: arrhythmia; how are they diagnosed?
- an irregularity in the rhythm of the heartbeat
- look at heart rate, amplitude and shapes of the components of the ECG waveform, and time intervals
State the different examples of arrhythmias and explain them briefly(5).
- atrial fibrillation: atria contract irregularily
- AV block: electrical conduction is impaired
- ventricular fibrillation: erratic electrical impulses cause ventricles to quiver uselessly, serious medical issue
- Bradycardia: HR is slower than normal
- Tachycardia: HR is faster than normal
Give the name of the 2 major arteries that originate from the aorta; hint: these supply the heart with blood
- left coronary artery
- right coronary artery
Where do the large veins of the heart converge and empty?
- right atrium