Anatomy of heart

In the human body, the heart is normally situated to the left of the middle of the thorax, underneath the breastbone. The heart is usually felt to be on the left side because the left heart (left ventricle) is stronger (it pumps to all body parts). The left lung is smaller than the right lung because the heart occupies more of the left hemithorax.

Structure of heart
The heart is a pear shaped, muscular organ in vertebrates, responsible for pumping blood through the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions The heart is composed of cardiac muscle, an involuntary muscle tissue which is found only within this organ. The heart is enclosed by a sac nown as the pericardium and is surrounded by the lungs. The pericardium is a double membrane structure which encloses a cavity called pericardial cavity. In this cavity lymph li e fluid called pericardial fluid is present. The mediastinum, a subdivision of the thoracic cavity, is the name of the heart cavity. The pericardium prevents the over extension of heart si!e due to blood pressure. It provides heart the moist environment. In normal adults, the mass of the heart is "#$%&#$ g ('%(" o!), or about three fourths the si!e of a clenched fist, but extremely diseased hearts can be up to ($$$ g (" lb) in mass due to hypertrophy. It consists of four chambers, the two upper atria (singular) atrium ) and the two lower ventricles.*n both sides, the lower ventricles are thic er and stronger than the upper atria. The muscle wall surrounding the left ventricle is thic er than the wall surrounding the right ventricle due to the higher force needed to pump the blood through the systemic circulation. The two auricles are completely separated from each other by inter%auricular septum. The two ventricles are separated by inter%ventricular septum. Since the left ventricle has the harder +ob of pumping blood to the entire body, its walls are thic er than those of right ventricle, which pumps blood to the lungs which are relatively at the shorter distance. The right atrium opens into the right ventricle by an opening called right auriculo%ventricular aperture. This aperture is guarded by a valve called tricuspid valve. The left atrium opens into left ventricle by the left auriculo ventricular aperture guarded by a valve called bicuspid valve (also called ,itral valve) . These valves are held in position by thread%li e structures in the ventricles nown as chordae tendeneae. The chordae tendeneae at one end are attached with valve at other to the wall of ventricles by special papillary muscles. The right ventricle opens into the pulmonary artery by the pulmonary semi lunar valve. The left ventricle opens into the aorta by the aortic semi lunar valve. The valves maintain the flow of blood in one direction.

Circulation of blood in heart

The function of the right side of the heart (see right heart) is to collect deoxygenated blood, in the right atrium, from the body and pump it, via the right ventricle, into the lungs (pulmonary circulation) so that carbon dioxide can be dropped off and oxygen pic ed up (gas exchange). This happens through a passive process called diffusion. The left side (see left heart) collects oxygenated blood from the lungs into the left atrium. -rom the left atrium the blood moves to the left ventricle which pumps it out to the body.

uThe right auricle collects the deoxygenated through the vena cava from the body. uThen this blood travels through the tricuspid valve to the right ventricle. u.eoxygenated blood flows through the pulmonary semilunar valve to the pulmonary artery. uThen it moves to the lungs. /ere the iron atoms of erythrocytes (red blood cells) hemoglobin carry the oxygen from lungs by the process of diffusion. So the blood becomes oxygenated. uThe oxygenated blood travels through the pulmonary vein to the left aurical. uThen it moves to the left ventricle through the bicuspid valve (,itral). uIt travels through the Aortic semilunar valve to the aorta.

(. 0ight Atrium ". 1eft Atrium &. Superior 2ena 3ava 4. Aorta #. 5ulmonary Artery 6. 5ulmonary 2ein 7. 8icupsid (9,itral9) 2alve :. Aortic Semilunar 2alve '. 1eft 2entricle ($. 0ight 2entricle ((. Inferior 2ena 3ava (". Tricuspid 2alve (&. 5ulmonary Semilunar 2alve