ANIMAL CIRCULATORY SYSTEM

FUNCTION
To carry digested food from the small intestine to all areas in the body which need it. To carry oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. To aid in the disposal of all wastes from the body. To distribute heat. To fight diseases by using white blood cells to fight off infection.

ANIMAL CIRCULATORY SYSTEM

An efficient circulatory system has: 1. a fluid, e.g., blood, to carry the materials to be transported; 2. a system of vessels to distribute the blood; 3. a pump to push the blood through the system; 4. exchange organs to carry out exchanges between the blood and external environment, e.g.,
lungs and intestine to add materials to the blood; lungs and kidneys to remove materials from the blood.

5. The most crucial demand on the circulatory system is the transport of oxygen and carbon dioxide to and from a gas exchange organ:
lungs or gills and the tissues.

6. All exchanges between blood and cells occur in the capillaries.

The Fish Heart

1. Blood collected from throughout the fish's body enters a thin-walled receiving chamber, the atrium. 2. As the heart relaxes, the blood passes through a valve into the thickwalled, muscular ventricle. 3. Contraction of the ventricle forces the blood into the capillary networks of the gills where gas exchange occurs. 4. The blood then passes on to the capillary networks that supply the rest of the body where exchanges with the tissues occur. 5. Then the blood returns to the atrium.

While obviously adequate to the fish's needs, this is not a very efficient system. The pressure generated by contraction of the ventricle is almost entirely dissipated when the blood enters the gills.

Three Chambers: the Frog and Lizard

The Frog Heart

The frog heart has 3 chambers: two atria and a single ventricle. 1. The atrium receives deoxygenated blood from the blood vessels (veins) that drain the various organs of the body. 2. The left atrium receives oxygenated blood from the lungs and skin (which also serves as a gas exchange organ in most amphibians). 3. Both atria empty into the single ventricle. 4. While this might appear to waste the opportunity to keep oxygenated and deoxygenated bloods separate, the ventricle is divided into narrow chambers that reduce the mixing of the two blood. 5. So when the ventricle contracts, oxygenated blood from the left atrium is sent, relatively pure, into the carotid arteries taking blood to the head (and brain); deoxygenated blood from the right atrium is sent, relatively pure, to the pulmocutaneous arteries taking blood to the skin and lungs where fresh oxygen can be picked up. Only the blood passing into the aortic arches has been thoroughly mixed, but even so it contains enough oxygen to supply the needs of the rest of the body. Note, that in contrast to the fish, both the gas exchange organs and the interior tissues of the body get their blood under full pressure

The Lizard Heart

1. Lizards have a muscular septum which partially divides the ventricle. 2. When the ventricle contracts, the opening in the septum closes and the ventricle is momentarily divided into two separate chambers. 3. This prevents mixing of the two bloods.
The left half of the ventricle pumps oxygenated blood (received from the left atrium) to the body. The right half pumps deoxygenated blood (received from the right atrium) to the lungs.

The Squid Hearts

This group of marine invertebrates have separate pumps: 1. two gill hearts to force blood under pressure to the gills and 2. a systemic heart to force blood under pressure to the rest of the body.

MAMMALIAN CIRCULATORY SYSTEM

THE CARDIAC CYCLE 1) alternating periods of contraction (systole), during which the heart is pumping blood, and 2) relaxation (diastole), during which the heart's chambers are filling with blood. An average adult has a heart rate of about 70 beats per minute. At this rate, a complete cardiac cycle takes roughly 0.8 seconds to complete. 1) 0.1s is atrial systole, 2) followed by about 0.3s of ventricular systole, 3) followed by about 0.4s of atrial and ventricular diastole.

Arteries: Carry blood away from the heart always. Have thick muscular walls Have a pulse Deep under the skin Have no valves Veins: Carry blood to the heart. Have thin walls Do not have a pulse Near surface of the skin Have valves to stop back-flow of blood. Capillaries: Are small blood vessels acting as veins and arteries. The walls of capillaries are only one cell thick so substances (Food or cells) can easily get through them and into the blood or out.

Composition of Blood
1. The blood is made up of different types of cells and a liquid medium for which they are transported. 2. The cells in the blood are Red Blood Cell (Corpuscles), White Blood Cells and Platelets. 3. Red Blood Corpuscles are technically not cells at all, as they do not contain a nucleus. Their red colour is from a substance known as haemoglobin. 4. Plasma is the liquid medium of blood.

BLOOD CELL LINEAGE