The Blood Stream Flashcards
What is the heart and what does do?
It is a muscular organ that pumps blood around the body. Much of the wall of the heart is made from muscle tissue
What are the main chamber in the heart?
Right atrium on top of the right ventricle
Left atrium on top of the left ventricle
What is the circulatory system?
It transports substances around the body
It consists of blood vessels, the heart and blood
What is the process of blood as it enters the heart?
Blood enters atria of the heart.
The atria contract and force blood into the ventricles
The ventricles contract and force blood out of the heart
Valves in the heart ensure that the blood flows in the correct direction
Blood flows from the heart to the organs through arteries and returns through veins
There are 2 separate circulation systems, one for the lungs and one for all other organs in the body
What are the differences between arteries and veins?
Arteries have thick walls containing muscle and elastic fibers, they carry blood away from the heart
Veins have thinner walls and often have valves to prevent back-flow of blood, they often have valves along their length to prevent back flow of blood
What does blood plasma transport?
CO2 form the organs to the lungs
Soluble products of digestion from the small intestine to other organs
Urea form the liver to the kidney
Hormones
What are red blood cells and what do they transport?
Red blood cells are biconcave disks with no nuclear
They use their haemoglobin which combines with oxygen to form oxyhaemoglobin in the lungs. They carry the oxygen to all the organs where the oxyhaemoglobin splits into haemoglobin and oxygen
In the lungs haemoglobin combines with oxygen to form…
Oxyhaemoglobin.
In other organs oxyhaemoglobin splits up into haemoglobin and oxygen
What are red blood cell packed with?
With a red pigment called harmoglobin
What do white blood cells so?
They have a nucleus and they form part of the body’s defence system against microorganisms. They ingest and destroy pathogens, price antibodies to destroy pathogens and produce antitoxins the pat neutralise the toxins released by pathogens
What does platelets do and what are they?
They are small fragments of cells with irregularly shaped bodies and no nucleus. They help to form clots to stop bleeding
Which part of the heart does the deoxygenated blood enter? And then what happens?
The right atrium
The right atrium then contracts to pump blood through valve into the right ventricle
The right ventricle contracts, the valve opens and deoxygenated blood travels back to the lungs
Which part of the heart does the oxygenated blood enter? And then what happens?
The left atrium
The left atrium contracts to pump blood through a valve into the left ventricle
The left ventricle contracts, the valve opens and oxygenated blood travels around the body
What does the pulmonary artery do?
It takes deoxygenated blood to the lungs
What does the pulmonary vein do?
Brings oxygenated blood from the lungs
What does the aorta do?
Carries oxygenated blood around the body
What does the vena cava do?
It brings deoxygenated blood into the heart
Describe capillaries and their function
They are narrow, thin-walled blood vessels
They carry the blood through the organs and the substances needed by the cells in the body tissue pass out of the blood, and substances produced by the cells pass into the blood, through the walls of the capillaries
What happens if blood vessels are blocked or too narrow the blood?
The blood will not flow efficiently. Then organs will be deprived of nutrients and oxygen
What do stents do?
They can be inserted to keep blood vessels open. This is particular beneficial when coronary arteries become narrow due to fatty deposits, cutting of blood supple to the heart.