Properties of special circulations Flashcards
What are the three characteristics that special circulations have to consider?
- Special requirements met by the circulation
- Special structural or functional features of the circulation
- Specific problems relating to that circulation
What are examples of special circulations with unique requirements?
- Cerebral
- Pulmonary
- Skeletal muscle
- Renal
- Gastrointestinal
Where do the two coronary arteries originate from?
The two coronary arteries originate from the left side of the heart at the beginning (root) of the aorta, just after it exits the left ventricle
What is the role of the cardiac veins?
The cardiac veins carry blood with a poor level of oxygen, from the myocardium to the right atrium.
Where does most of the blood from the coronary veins return through?
The coronary sinus
What are the special requirements of coronary circulation?
- Needs a high basal supply of O2: 2 times that of the supply of O2 in the resting skeletal muscle
- Increase in O2 supply is proportional to an increased demand/cardiac work
What are the special structural features of coronary circulation?
- High capillary density
- Large surface area: needed for O2 transfer
- Together these reduced diffusion distance to myocytes: diffusion
- Time is proportional to distance required: so O2 transport is fast
What does the higher numbers of fibers and capillaries in the cardiac muscles give rise to?
Shorter diffusion distances
Fibre diameter in the skeletal muscles
50 um
Capillaries in skeletal muscle
400 /mm^2
Fibre diameter in the cardiac
18 um
Capillaries in the cardiac muscle
3000 /mm2
Describe normal activity in the coronary circulation:
- High blood flow: 10x the flow per weight of the rest of the body
- Relatively sparse sympathetic innervation
- High nitric oxide concentration released during vasodilation
- High O2 extraction (75%), whereas the average in the rest of the body is 25%
Describe what occurs during increased demand in the coronary circulation
- Coronary blood flow increases in proportion to demands
- Production of vasodilators (adenosine, K+, acidosis) out-compete relatively low sympathetic vasoconstriction
- Circulating adrenaline dilates coronary vessels due to abundance of B2-adrenoreceptors
What are the effects of the curve shifting left (for the curve plotted for Oxyhaemoglobin against PO2)?
- Decreased temperature
- Decreased 2-3 DPG
- Decreased [H+]
- CO
What are the effects of the curve shifting right (for the curve plotted for Oxyhaemoglobin against PO2)?
- Reduced affinity
- Increased temperature
- Increased 2-3 DPG
- Increased [H+]
Describe the blood in the coronary sinus when it is returning to the right atrium from the myocardial tissue:
The blood has a greater carbon dioxide content due to high capillary density, surface area and small diffusion difference
Describe the effect of the Bohr shift
- blood in the coronary sinus has high CO2 content
- High CO2 and low pH means that the haemoglobin has less affinity for oxygen
- This means that more O2 is given up to the myocardial tissues
What is unique about the myocardium?
It is able to extract 75% of oxygen as opposed to typically 25% in other tissues
What is metabolic hyperaemia?
Increase in organ blood flow due to metabolic activity
How does metabolic hyperaemia occur?
Myocardium metabolism generates metabolites to produce vasodilation, which then increases blood flow
What is the need for metabolic hyperaemia (increasing blood flow)?
- O2 extraction is near maximum during normal activity
- To provide more O2 during demand, must increase the blood flow
Example of metabolic hyperaemia
Adenosine is produced by ATP metabolism and is released from cardiac myocytes
What are the effects of metabolic hyperaemia?
Increased pCO2, H+ and K+ levels
Why is it important that the coronary arteries function correctly?
Coronary arteries are functional-end arteries and therefore decreased perfusion produces major problems, such as Ischaemic heart disease
What is the heart susceptible to?
Sudden and slow obstruction