Systemic Circulation Flashcards
Which two circuits go into / out of the heart
Pulmonary
Systemic
What are the parts of the peripheral vasculature (organs it supplies) and in order top to bottom as they are arranged in parallel
- lungs
1) brain
2) heart
3) liver and GI tract
4) kidneys
5) skeletal muscle
6) skin
7) skeleton, fat, other tissues
As blood rejoins from different pathways to get back to the heart what implications does this have
Implications for resistance to blood flow itself
And pressure within different blood vessels
What happens at rest vs at exercise in peripheral vasculature supply
- %s of blood flow change
- gross quantities of blood (litres/minute) going through each organ changes
What happens to blood flow to the brain during exercise
- decreases from 13-15% of normal blood flow
- to just 3-4% during exercise
BUT
actual amount of blood going to the brain increases slightly because the brains blood supply has to be maintained if exercising or resting
What happens to blood flow to the liver and GI tract and to the kidneys during exercise
- massive decrease compared to % of normal blood flow (around 45% to them at rest drops to 9% during exercise)
What happens to blood flow to the skeletal muscles and skin during exercise
- usually 25%
- increases to 85% in exercise
Which vessels are in the systemic system
Aorta Arteries Arterioles Capillaries Venules Veins Vena cava
Which vessels are in the pulmonary system
Arteries Arterioles Capillaries Venules Veins
Which vessels are in the heart
Atria
Ventricles
What is the number of great vessels vs numbers for distributing vessels (arteries arterioles capillaries)
And what is this mirrored by
Great vessels = very small numbers just 1 or 2
Others = large numbers (increase by 3 orders of magnitude)
Mirrored by total cross sectional area / luminal space (2.8cm^2 in aorta compared to 1357 for all capillaries)
Which vessels have the largest total cross sectional area for luminal space
CAPILLARIES
- even though individual capillaries are tiny there are loads of them
Where is the majority of blood volume at any given moment
In venous circulation (67%)
What is the rship between velocity of blood flow and total cross sectional area of vessels
- roughly inversely proportional
- increase in cross sectional area going into capillaries (as a whole not individual capillaries) is opposed by a decrease in velocity of blood flow
Explain the graphs for total cross sectional area vs velocity of blood flow
1) high velocity in aorta
2) velocity decreases rapidly through arterioles
3) velocity at lowest when comes to capillaries
4) velocity increase through venules, veins and vena cava BUT not as rapidly (only to half of level of when in aorta)
What is the rship between cross sectional area and blood volume in each vessel
Aorta - area no volume
Arteries - larger volume than area
Arterioles - area no volume
Capillaries - much larger area than volume
Veins - almost the same
Vena cava -area no volume
What are the 3 layers of blood vessels and explain them
1) tunica adventitia - outermost layer, made of connective tissue (collagen fibres)
2) tunica media - middle layer, contains smooth muscles + elastin fibres
3) tunica intima - innermost later, layer of endothelium (squamous epithelium)
What are the exceptions to the standard 3 blood vessels layers
VERY SMALL VESSELS
Ie capillaries
What is the layer structure In capillaries
- ONLY endothelial layer (effectively tunica intima though not called this) with thin basement membrane of connective tissues surrounding it
- smaller and simpler than large vessels
What is the structure of elastic arteries (ie aorta and it’s branches)
- large diameter (wide large internal diameter of 4mm)
- low resistance pathways
- so can carry large amounts of blood rapidly with little resistance throughout body
- so blood distributed rapidly and efficiently
What is the structure of the tunica media in elastic arteries
- large amounts of elastin fibres
- purpose = stretch, withstand, smooth out large pressure fluctuations (due to pulses of blood coming out of contracting heart)
Describe muscular arteries
- deliver blood to specific organs (ie hepatic artery)
- diameters of 0.3-10mm
What is the structure of the tunica media in muscular arteries
- less elastin fibres and more smooth muscle cells so vessel is less distensible (able to vasoconstrict/stress/stretch and cope with that)
Where are muscular arteries most active
What does this mean
- In vasoconstriction
- action of vascular smooth muscle cells
- so able to reduce pressure somewhat
What is the role of arterioles and what is their structure
- carry out much vasoconstriction
- deliver blood directly to capillary beds
- small (10um - 0.3mm diameter) and this vessel lumen diameter regulates blood flow to the capillary beds responding to neural stimuli and local chemical influences
- tunica media almost entirely smooth muscles (little-no elastin)
What is the diameter size of capillaries and what 2 basic types of capillaries exist
- 8-10um
1) continuous capillaries
2) fenestrated capillaries
Describe continuous capillaries
- most common type
- endothelial cells have tight junctions between them
- there are narrow intercellular clefts (slice through wall of capillary plasma space)
What does the narrow intracellular clefts in continuous capillaries allow
- limited passage of fluid and small solutes
- between the plasma space inside the vessel lumen and the extracellular and vice versa
Describe fenestrated capillaries
- some endothelial cells in these have oval shaped pores (FENESTRATIONS) which act as wide intercellular gaps
What do the fenestrations in fenestrated capillaries allow
- makes them much more permeable to fluids and small solutes
- allow much easier passage of small cells (ie WBCs), fluids and other molecules (ie protein)
Where are fenestrated capillaries found most often
- where active absorption of filtrate formation occurs (ie small intestine, kidneys)
Describe capillary beds
- broad structure
- interwoven branching networks of capillaries
- TRUE CAPILLARIES are the exchange vessels (10-100 per bed)