MEC322: Cardiovascular System Flashcards
What are the three general functions of blood?
Transportation- of oxygen, carbon dioxide, nutrients, hormones, heat and waste
Regulation- of pH, body temperature and water contents of cells
Protection- against blood loss through clotting, disease through phagocytic white blood cells and proteins such as antibodies, interferons, and complement.
What are the components of whole blood?
Blood plasma – a liquid extracellular matrix that contains dissolved substances.
Formed elements – which are cells (red blood cells or erythrocytes, white blood cells or leukocytes, and platelets) and cell fragments.
What amount of blood loss causes weakness?
15-30%
What amount of blood loss causes shock?
over 30%
shock can be fatal
What are blood transfusions used to treat?
substantial blood loss, severe anaemia or thrombocytopenia (not enough platelets)
What are antigens?
Contained on the surface of red blood cells made up of glycolipids and glycoproteins
What is the ABO blood group?
Based on two antigens A&B these determine blood type
What are anti-A antibodies and anti-B antibodies?
Blood plasma contains antibodies that react with the A or B antigens if mixed.
What is an erythrocyte?
a red blood cell
How is the Rh blood group classified?
People whose erythrocytes have Rh antigens (the Rh factor) are classified as Rh+. Those who lack the antigen are Rh–.
What happens when Anti-B antibody and B antigen mix?
Clotting- adverse affect
What are some characteristics of blood?
Temperature of 38°C
Five times more viscous than water (more viscous due to plasma proteins and formed elements)
pH slightly alkaline 7.35-7.45
What is venipuncture?
Blood collected from veins (as they are more superficial, thinner and lower blood pressure than arteries)
common site- median cubital vein
What are other blood collection methods?
Collected from peripheral capillaries - fingertip or earlobe
Collected from arterial puncture - Required to evaluate efficiency of gas exchange at the lungs
Describe blood in terms of it biomechanics?
Blood is a heterogeneous multi-phase mixture of solid corpuscles suspended in a liquid plasma —> non-Newtonian fluid
What is a Newtonian fluid?
a fluid in which the viscous stresses arising from its flow, at every point, are linearly correlated to the local strain rate- the rate of change of deformation over time
What is the viscosity of blood determined by?
- viscosity of plasma
- The haematocrit level (volume of red blood cells in total volume of blood)
- the mechanical properties of blood cells
- Applied deformation forces (extensional and shearing)
- Ambient physical conditions
Compare plasma to red blood cells
Plasma- Newtonian Red blood cells - Vary in concentration Are elastic Aggregate in 3D structures (rouleaux) at low deformation rates
What is blood modelled as in computational models?
Newtonian fluid
What will blood flow effect?
The mechanical stress on the blood vessel walls and the surrounding tissues
- especially in cases of irregular lumen (inside space of tubular structure) geometry like stenosed (narrowing) arteries
- seems to have the most significant role in facilitating blood flow through stenotic vessels
What is the basic pattern of blood flow?
–> right side of heart –> lungs –> left side of heart –> sytemic cells –>
heart –> arteries –> arterioles –> capillaries–>venules–>veins–>
What does the right atrium do?
- receives and holds deoxygenated blood from the superior vena cava, inferior vena cava and coronary sinus
- sends down to the right ventricle
What does the left atrium do?
- receives the oxygenated blood from the left and right pulmonary veins
- pumps to the left ventricle
Do atria have valves at their inlets?
No
What does the right ventricle do?
- receives blood from the right atrium
- pumps it into the lungs via the pulmonary artery
What does the left ventricle do?
- receives blood from the left atrium
- pumps it into the circulation system via the aorta
What is the myocardium made of?
myocytes, cardiac extracellular matrix, and the capillaries
Heart wall
What does the cardiac extracellular matrix primarily consist of?
fibrillar collagens, type I (85%) and III (11%)
Why is type I and III collagen essential to the heart wall?
Maintaining the size and shape of the heart, wile only consisting of 1-4% of total heart protein
What changes the extra cellular matrix especially fibrillar collagen? and what are the changes?
Normal aging, hypertension and diabetes mellitus
- change in the collagen content
- conformational change in the type of fibrillar collagen (amount of type III collagen decreases and type I increases)
- increase in collagen cross-linking
What are ventricles?
3D thick-walled pressure vessels with changes in wall thickness and principal curvatures both locally and temporally through the cardiac cycle.
Where are the ventricle walls thicker and why?
Thickest at the equator and base of theleft ventriclewhich needs to pump blood to most of the body while the right ventricle fills only the lungs
Where are the ventricle walls thinnest and why?
thinnest at the left ventricular apex and right ventricular free wall
Which is larger the pressure of the atria to fill the ventricles or the load on the ventricles required to pump blood throughout the body and lungs?
the load on the ventricles required to pump blood throughout the body and lungs
Are the ventricles equal in size in an adult?
Yes- contains about 85 mL
Mass of left ventricle averages 143±38.4g
What are the 5-stages of cardiac cycle?
Atrial systole Isovolumetric Contraction Ventricular Ejection Isovolumetric Relaxation Ventricular Filling
What happens during Atrial systole?
Atrial contraction forces blood into ventricles
- Mitral valve opens rapidly and semilunar valves is closed
- Atria contract and pump blood
- Ventricles, already partially filled from phase 5, receive last ~30% of blood, for a final resting volume of about 130mL.
What happens during Isovolumetric Contraction?
Ventricular contraction pushes AV valves closed
- The deceleration of flow reverses the pressure across the valve leaflets and causes them to close (mitral valve closure)
- semilunar valves is still closed.
- Ventricles begin to contract. Ventricular muscle initially shortens a little, but intraventricular pressure rises rapidly(about 50 msec in adult humans). Ventricular volume unchanged.
What happens during Ventricular Ejection?
Semilunar valves open and blood is ejected
- Atrioventricular valves close but semilunar valves open.
- Pressures in left and right Ventricle exceed pressures in Aorta (80mmHg) and Pulmonary Artery (10mmHg).
- Ejection is quick at first, slowing down as systole progresses.
- Amount ejected each ventricle per stroke at rest is 70-90mL.
- About 50mL of blood remains in each ventricle at the end of systole
What happens during Isovolumetric Relaxation?
Semilunar valves close and blood flows into atria
- All the valves close as ventricles relax
- pressure within Ventricles drops below 120mmHg
- This ends once Ventricular Pressure falls below Atrial pressure Atrioventricular valves open.
- The heart pump blood to rest of body.
What happens during Ventricular Filling?
Chambers relax and blood fills ventricles passively
- Atrioventricular valves open and semilunar valve close.
- Ventricles are relaxed.
- Ventricles passively fill with approximately 70% of their final volume.
- As the ventricles fill, rate of filling decreases and the AV valves drift towards closing.
- Atria expand and are filling.
How is blood supplied to the heart?
Coronary artery and vein system
Right and left coronary arteries branch off of aorta –>Branch into smaller vessels
Cardiac veins deliver blood to coronary sinus, and back to the right atrium
What is the cause of coronary artery disease?
When coronary arteries cannot deliver blood adequately- usual cause plaque in arterial wall
What causes pain in the cardiovascular system?
pain (angina pectoris) when the body is not receiving adequate oxygen
What is the cause of myocardial infraction?
(Heart attack) when blood supply to heart is completely blocked; muscle dies
How does the heart conduct electrical signals?
Heart contracts as a unit
Atrial and ventricular syncytia help conduct electrical signals through the heart
Sinoatrial (S-A) node is continuous with atrial syncytium
S-A node cells can initiate impulses on their own; activity is rhythmic
What is a syncytium?
cells interconnected by specialized membrane with gap junctions, as seen in the heart muscle cells and certain smooth muscle cells, which are synchronized electrically in an action potential.
What do heart valves do?
Control flow of blood from one chamber to another and prevent backflow
Describe the parasympathetic autonomic nervous system
From medulla oblongata (vagus nerve)
- Nerve branches to S-A and A-V nodes, and secretes acetylcholine (slows rate)
- Parasympathetic activity can increase (slow heart rate) or decrease (increase heart rate)
Describe the sympathetic autonomic nervous system
from celiac plexus to heart
- Secretes norepinephrine
- Increases force of contractions
What maintains the balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems?
Cardiac control centre in medulla oblongata
Normally both are at a steady background level
What does a baroreceptor detect?
changes in blood pressure- rising pressure stretches receptors
What does the Vagus nerve control?
Parasympathetic system is partially controlled by the vagus nerve and controls heart rate
increased temp increases heart rate
excess potassium decreases it
excess calcium increases it
What is blood flow affected by?
Pressure and resistance (generally equal to cardiac output)
flows from high to low pressure
Define blood pressure
The force exerted by blood against vessel walls
(contraction of the ventricles, mmHg)
depends partly on total volume of blood
When is blood pressure highest and lowest?
highest in large arteries, with ventricular systole
Lowest with ventricular diastole
Plus pressure is difference between two above
Where is resistance to blood flow highest?
depends on size of blood vessel and thickness (viscosity) of blood
Highest in capillaries
What regulates cardiac output?
- contraction strength
- heart rate
- venous return:
skeletal muscles
breathing rate