The Heart Flashcards
(42 cards)
What does the term “double pump” mean?
Each heartbeat pumps blood to the lungs and to the body
- Pulmonary circulation: send blood to lungs
- Systemic circulation: send blood to body
In what cavity is the heart located in the body?
In the Middle Mediastinum

What is the pericardium? What does it consist of?
Sac containing the heart
Consists of two layers:
- Outer Fibrous: anchor and protect heart
- Inner Serous
- Parietal layer: outermost layer
- Visceral layer (epicardium): surface of heart

What is the pericardial cavity?
The parietal and visceral layers of the Inner Serous pericardium have epithelial cells that produce pericardial fluid that fills the pericardial cavity
- This reduces friction

What does the heart wall consist of?
- Epicardium (visceral layer)
- Myocardium
- Endocardium
What are the characteristics of the heart muscle, Myocardium, which is part of the heart wall?
- Involuntary and striated muscle
- Intercalated discs
- Gap junctions to carry action potentials
- Ventricular muscle mass larger than atrial muscle mass
- Ventricular muscle mass pumps blood out of heart and needs to have a stronger contraction
- Cardiac skeleton
- collagen connective tissue separates atria and ventricle
- no action potentials between two sides except through two openings causing millisecond delay

What are the chambers of the heart?
Right and Left Aria
- Atria have appendages called auricles
- Larger space to expand and receive extra blood during exercise
Right and Left Ventricles
- Coronary Sulcus: “crown” indentation that separates Atria from Ventricle
- Intraventricular Sulci: Anterior and Posterior that separate the two ventricles

What is the septum of the heart?
A Septum is a wall. There is:
- Interatrial septum: separates atria
- Open as fetus for fetal gas exchange
- Closed as adult
- Interventricular septum – always closed
- Part membranous, part muscle.
- Muscle part contracts.
- Part membranous, part muscle.

Walk through Blood Flow through the heart
- Right Atrium
- receives deoxygenated bloods from:
- Superior vena cava
- Inferior vena cava
- Coronary Sinus
- receives deoxygenated bloods from:
- Right Ventricle
- Passes through Tricuspid Valve
- Pulmonary Trunk
- Passes through Pulmonary Semilunar-Valve
- Lungs
- Gas exchange
- Pulmonary Veins
- Left Atrium
- Left Ventricle
- Passes through the Bicuspid Valve
- Aorta
- Passes through the Aortic Semlunar-Valve

What are the Great Vessels?
- Aorta
- Superior/Inferior Vena Cava
What are the Atrioventricular Valves (AV) and how do they work?
- Tricuspid and bicuspid
* right vs. left side, respectively
Chordae tendineae attach to Papillary muscles which control the opening and closing of the valves

What are the semilunar valves?
The Pulmonary Semilunar Valve in trunk and Aortic Semilunar Valve
Arranged as 3 half-moon cusps (pockets)

What arteries are involved in Coronary Circulation in the heart?
Left Coronary Artery
- Anterior Interventricular Artery (widowmaker)
- Circumflex Artery
Right Coronary Artery
- Posterior Interventricular Artery
- Marginal Artery
Both arteries are fused (anastomoses)

What veins are involved in coronary circulation of the heart?
- Great cardiac vein
- Middle cardiac vein
- Small cardiac vein
The coronary sinus ultimately receives all cardiac venous blood and returns it to the right atrium

What makes up the conduction system of the heart?
Autorhythmic cells stimulates heart, generating hearbeat by starting action potentials
The ANS can modify heart rhythm but not establish the rhythm
All cardiac muscle cells are autorhythmic but 1% lose ability to contract
- These cells form the pacemakers and conduction system
What components make up the conduction system of the heart?
Sinoatrial (SA) Node
- Primary Pacemaker (fastest ap/min)
Atrioventricular (AV) Node
- Secondary Pacemaker (slower ap/min)
ORDER:
- SA Node
- AV Node
- AV Bundle
- Split into Left and Right Bundle Branches
- Purkinje Fibers loop around

- Where does the cardiac muscle contract first? Last?
- Why is there a 0.12 sec delay across the AV node?
- What separates the atrial muscle mass from the ventricular muscle mass?
- Why does the interventricular septum begin to contract before the apex?
- Atrial Cardiac muscle contract first and Upper Regions of the Ventricular Wall conduct last
- 0.12 sec delay due to the AV Node not firing as fast as SA
- Cardiac Skeleton separates the atrial and ventricular muscle masses
- Interventricular Septum contracts first b/c AP reaches there first
What are the different Waves and intervals in the EKG?

- P Wave: Atrial Depolarization
- QRS Complex: Ventricular Depolarization
- T Wave: Ventricular Repolarization
P-Q Interval: Atria depolarizes and contracts
P-R Interval: Atri and Ventricles Depolarize +contract
Q-T Interval:
S-T Segment: Blood Gone
Quiescent Period: Time between cycles

What does an EKG or ECG measure?
Measures electrical impulses sent down each chamber
What heart rate changes what actually changes in the conduction cycle?
The Quiescent period gets longer or shorter
What phenomena control blood flow through the heart?
Contraction and Relaxation of the
- Atrioventricular (AV) Valves
- Semilunar (SL) Valves
How does Pressure affect blood flow? What pressures are involved in the Cardiac Cycle?
Blood always flows from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure
- Pressure is a result of the size of a chamber and the volume of blood within it
- Venous Pressure
- Atrial Pressure*
- Ventricular Pressure
- Aterial Pressure*
How do the chambers behave during a normal cardiac cycle?
Two Atria will contract while the Two Ventricles relax, then, Two Ventricles contract while the two Atria relax
- Systole: Contraction
- Diastole: Relaxation
What are the phases of the cardiac cycle?
- Ventricular Filling
- Isovolumetric Contraction
- Ventricular ejection
- Isovolumetric relaxation




