The Cardiovascular System

Dr. Assaad A. Eid

Office: DTS room 1-19A

TEL: 4781
Mail: ae49@aub.edu.lb
 Functions of the circulatory system
The circulatory system has three functions:

1. Transporting substances around the body.

These include oxygen, glucose, carbon
dioxide, nutrients, water and waste products.

2. Controlling body temperature.

3. Protecting the body. Blood contains

cells and anti-bodies that fight infection
and clotting agents to stop bleeding.

The circulatory system is described as a double system because it

has two loops.
 System Overview
• The three principal components that make up the
circulatory system are:
– The heart (the pump)
– The blood vessels (the pipes)
– The blood (the fluid to be moved)
The Heart
 Functions of the Heart

• Generating blood pressure

• Routing blood: separates pulmonary and
systemic circulations
• Ensuring one-way blood flow: valves
• Regulating blood supply
– Changes in contraction rate and force match
blood delivery to changing metabolic needs
 Heart
Ø  The heart weighs between 7 and 15 ounces (200 to 425 grams)
and is a little larger than the size of your fist. By the end of a long
life, a person’s heart may have beat (expanded and contracted)
more than 3.5 billion times. In fact, each day, the average heart
beats 100,000 times, pumping about 2,000 gallons (7,571 liters) of
blood.

Ø  A double-layered membrane called the pericardium surrounds

your heart like a sac. The outer layer of the pericardium
surrounds the roots of your heart’s major blood vessels and is
attached by ligaments to your spinal column, diaphragm, and
other parts of your body. The inner layer of the pericardium is
attached to the heart muscle. A coating of fluid separates the
two layers of membrane, letting the heart move as it beats.
 Heart Wall
The heart wall is composed of :
u  Epicardium - outer protective layer of the heart – the visceral layer of the serous
pericardium), is made up of squamous epithelial cells overlying connective tissue.

u  Myocardium - muscular middle layer wall of the heart. It has striated muscle fibers that cause
the heart to contract.

u  Endocardium - inner layer of the heart. Consists of endothelial tissue with small blood
vessels and bundles of smooth muscle.
 Cardiac system
The four chambers of the heart have special names:
An upper chamber is called an atrium (plural: atria).

right
atrium left
atrium

right left
ventricle ventricle

A lower chamber is called a ventricle.

 The Heart Valves
Four valves regulate blood flow through your
heart:

Ø  The tricuspid valve regulates blood flow

between the right atrium and right
ventricle.

Ø  The pulmonary valve controls blood flow

from the right ventricle into the pulmonary
arteries, which carry blood to your lungs
to pick up oxygen.

Ø  The mitral valve lets oxygen-rich blood

from your lungs pass from the left atrium
into the left ventricle.

Ø  The aortic valve opens the way for

oxygen-rich blood to pass from the left
ventricle into the aorta, your body’s
largest artery.
 System Overview
There are 2 “loops” in the
cardiovascular system:
Systemic and pulmonary.

The pulmonary loop carries

oxygen-poor blood to the lungs and
back to the heart.

The systemic loop carries blood

from the heart to the rest of the
body.

This is considered a “closed

system,” i.e., leaks are bad.
 The Heart Anatomy
The “right” heart:
- Receives blood from the
systemic veins
- Delivers blood to the
lungs.

The “left” heart :

-Receives blood from the
lungs
-Delivers blood everywhere
except the lungs.
 The circulatory system

Deoxygenated Oxygenated
blood is
lungs blood returns
pumped from to the heart
the heart to the through the
lungs through pulmonary
the pulmonary vein.
artery.
Oxygenated
Deoxygenated blood is pumped
blood returns to at high pressure
the heart from the heart to
through the the body through
body’s the aorta.
vena cava.
cells
 The double circulatory system
The pulmonary circulation carries:

deoxygenated blood from the

lungs
heart to the lungs
oxygenated blood back from the
lungs to the heart, ready to be
pumped out to the body.

The systemic circulation carries:

oxygenated blood to the rest of

the body through the arteries
deoxygenated blood back to the body’s
heart through the veins. cells
Conducting system of the heart
 Types of Cardiac Muscle

• Contractile cells:
– Account for 99% of heart tissue
– Activated by change in the potential (just like skeletal)
– Produce contractions, generate force

• Conducting system:
– Initiate and distribute electical activity
– Consists of nodes and internodal pathways
– Controls and coordinates heartbeat
 The Conduction System
Ø  The cardiac conduction system is a
group of specialized cardiac muscle cells in
the walls of the heart that send signals to
the heart muscle causing it to contract.

Ø  The main components of the cardiac

conduction system are:

Ø  the SA node, AV node, bundle of His,

bundle branches, and Purkinje fibers.
 The Conduction System
The SA node (anatomical pacemaker) starts the sequence by causing the atrial
muscles to contract. From there, the signal travels to the AV node, through the
bundle of His, down the bundle branches, and through the Purkinje fibers, causing
the ventricles to contract. This signal creates an electrical current that can be seen
on a graph called an Electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG). Doctors use an EKG to
monitor the cardiac conduction system's electrical activity in the heart.
 Conducting system of the heart
• Approximately 1 percent of cardiac cells do not function in
contraction, but have specialized features that are
essential for normal heart excitation.

• These cells constitute a network known as the conducting

system of the heart and are in electrical contact with the
cardiac muscle cells via gap junctions.

• The conducting system initiates the heartbeat and helps

spread the impulse rapidly throughout the heart.

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16
17
Excitation of the Heart
 Excitation of the Heart
• The signal starts in the SA node (normal rate is about 75 signals
per minute).

• The wave of depolarization travels through the internodal pathway

(via gap junctions) to the AV node. The signal then has a .1 s
delay to allow the atria to contract and totally fill the ventricles
before they contract.

• Then the wave of depolarization travels through the AV bundle

(bundle of His) down towards the purkinji fibers which go to the
apex of the ventricular septum then turn upwards.

• The purkinji fibers also supply the papillary muscles which tell
them to contract before the rest of the atria to help prevent
backflow through the valves.
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The action potential
 Types of AP
1. Non-pacemaker APs, also called "fast response" AP because of their rapid
depolarization, are found throughout the heart except for the pacemaker
cells.

2. The pacemaker APs, termed "slow response" APs because of their slower
rate of depolarization.

The action potential of a

myocardial pumping cell.

The action potential of an

autorhythmic cardiac cell