Professional Documents
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8.1.1 Plasma
1. transports:
-CO2 -Nutrients -Urea -Hormones -Antibodies -Fibrinogen
8.2.1 Arteries
-carry blood away from the heart
-high blood pressure due to the pumping action of heart
-carry oxygenated blood (except pulmonary artery, umbilical artery)
-thick wallsallow the arteries to withstand high blood pressure
-walls of arteries contain a thick layer of muscle (contract/relax to change the
size of the lumenregulate the amount of blood flow to different parts of the
body)
-walls of arteries contain more elastic tissue than that of veinallows the
arteries to distend(when the heart contracts) and recoil (when the heart
relaxes)maintain a continuous blood flow
-lumen of the arteries is smaller than that of veins
8.2.2 Veins
-carry blood towards the heart
-low blood pressure (blood pressure drops after the blood passing through the
capillaries)
-carry deoxygenated blood (except pulmonary vein, umbilical vein)
-thinner walls than arteries
-thinner layer of muscles than arteries
-large lumenreduces the resistance of blood flow inside the veins
-valves are present in veins to prevent the backflow of blood
-contraction of skeletal musclessqueeze the nearby veinsblood is forced to
flow in veins
8.2.3 Capillaries
-walls of capillaries are one-cell thick and differentially permeable
-exchange of materials between blood and body cells occurs in capillaries
8.2.4 Blood pressure along different blood vessels
arteries and arterioles: high blood pressure due to the pumping action of heart
blood pressure changes periodically as the heart
contracts and relaxes
8.3 Heart
1. Structure of the heart
-coronary arteries supply oxygen and nutrients to the cardiac muscles while
coronary veins carry carbon dioxide and other waste away
-two sides of the heart are separated by septum(a thick muscular wall), which
prevents the mixing of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood
-semilunar valve: **close when atria begin to contract+when both atria and
ventricles relax**
on the base of aorta and the pulmonary artery
prevents backflow of blood from aorta to left ventricle
prevents backflow of blood from pulmonary artery to right
ventricle
** bicuspid valve and tricuspid valve are held in place by tough heart tendons,
which prevent them from turning inside out when the ventricles contract
1. Lymph
-composition similar to blood (except for the absence of RBC, plasma
proteins and blood platelets)
2. Lymph vessels
-valves are presentprevent the backflow of lymph
-contraction of skeletal muscles surrounding the lymph vesselsforce lymph
to flow
3. Lymph nodes
-located at intervals along the lymph vessels
-WBC accumulate here (kill the germs in the lymph)lymph is filtered
through lymph nodes before it returns to the blood circulation
-to prevent the backflow of blood from the ventricles into the atria (1)
-when the ventricles are contracting (1)
OR
-to prevent the backflow of blood into the ventricles (1)
-when the ventricles are relaxing (1)
3. Describe how tissue fluid is formed from the blood. {CE 98 3(a)}
-the pressure of blood near the arteriole end is higher than that of the tissue
fluid (1)
-some of the plasma, except red blood cells, blood platelets and plasma
proteins (1)
-are forced out through the wall of the capillary to form the tissue fluid (1)
4. Describe how the continuous flow of lymph towards the heart is maintained.
{CE 98 3(a)} {CE 01 3(b)}
-contraction of skeletal muscles adjacent to the veins helps to force the blood
to flow (1)
-valves are also present in the veins to prevent the backflow of blood (1)
6. Peter’s heart rate increased during the fitness test. Explain the importance of
this phenomenon. {CE 99 1(b)}
-the heart beats more rapidly to supply more blood to the skeletal muscles
during the fitness test (1)
-so as to provide more glucose and oxygen for them
-hence, a lot of energy can be released in respiration for stronger muscular
contraction (1)
-increase in blood supply to the muscles also helps carry away CO2 and other
waste produced by the muscles (1)
7. Explain why the lymph in lymph vessels of a person turns from clear to milky
after he has eaten some barbecued pork. {CE 01 3(b)}
8. For a patient suffering from elephantiasis, the lymph vessels in his leg are
blocked by a kind of parasitic worm. The leg becomes greatly swollen due to
the accumulation of tissue fluid. Explain why the tissue fluid accumulates.
{CE 01 3(b)}
-tissue fluid in the leg cannot be transported away as the lymph vessels are
blocked (1)
-meanwhile it is continuously formed in the leg (1)
thus tissue fluid accumulates
9. Lymph node may become enlarged when a person has a sore throat. Explain
why the lymph node is enlarged. {CE 01 3(b)}
10. In a type of heart disorder, bicuspid valve cannot close properly. A man
suffering from the disorder may faint easily when he performs vigorous
exercise. Why?
-If bicuspid valve cannot close properly, oxygenated blood in the left ventricle
will flow back to the left atrium when the ventricles contract (1)
-this reduces the amount of oxygenated blood pumped out of the heart in
each heart beat (1)
-during vigorous exercise, the oxygen consumption of the skeletal muscles is
very high (1)
-this increases the risk of insufficient oxygen supply to the brain (1)
hence the person may faint easily
11. Immunity can be acquired by vaccination. Vaccine may be injected into the
tissue under the skin. Describe how the vaccine can be transported to the
heart after injection. {CE 08 9(b)}
12. Compare the blood pressure in the artery with that in the vein. Suggest 2
reasons for the difference. {CE 02 4(b)}
-the blood pressure in the vein is much lower than that of artery (1)
-the blood in the artery is directly under the pumping action of the heart,
while that in the vein is not (1)
-the blood in the vein has overcome great resistance after travelling over a
long distance (1)
13. State two functions of the thick wall of an artery. {CE 04 3(c)}
14. Explain the importance of muscular tissue in the wall of artery. {CE 05 8(a)}
15. Vein has a larger lumen than artery. Explain the importance of this.
{CE 04 3(c)}
16. Explain why it was difficult to insert the metal wire from the pulmonary
artery into the right ventricle. {CE 10 3(b)}
17. Although both arteries and veins are blood vessels, they are very different in
their structure. Discuss how their structural differences are related to the
different ways of maintaining blood flow inside the blood vessel. {DSE 15 11}
Structural differences Ways of maintaining blood flow
Wall of arteries is thicker than that of Pumping of heart created a high
veins (1) blood pressure to drive the blood
flow in arteries (1), the thick wall can
withstand the high blood pressure
(1)
Wall of arteries contains more elastic Elastic nature of the arterial wall
tissues than that of veins (1) allows recoil of the wall (1) which
maintains the blood flow along the
arteries
Valves are present in veins but not in Blood flow in veins is maintained by
arteries (1) the contraction of skeletal muscles,
(1) which squeeze the blood along,
presence of valves can prevent the
backflow of blood (1)
Lumen of veins is larger than that of Blood pressure inside veins is
arteries (1) relatively low, (1) having a larger
lumen reduces the resistance to
blood flow (1)-->facilitating blood
flow
1. Mammalian Heart
{AL 01 PIIA-1(d), AL 03 PIIB-4(c), AL 04 PIIB-6(a), AL 09 PIIB-4(c)}
{CE 97-2(c), CE 03-4(b)}
(a) Role of coronary arteries and veins (blockage of coronary arteries leads to
heart attack)
(b) Role of tricuspid valves, bicuspid valves & semi-lunar valves (prevents
backflow of blood)
(c) The changes in the heart rate and stroke volume during exercise & its
significance
(d) Trained person vs untrained person (at rest & during exercise)
2. A flowchart to show the flow of blood from small intestine through liver to
lungs (small intestine->hepatic portal vein->liver->hepatic vein->vena
cava->heart->pulmonary artery->lung)
3. (a) Composition of blood in pulmonary arteries vs pulmonary veins (OR
umbilical artery vs. umbilical vein) {blood in pulmonary artery has a higher
CO2 and lower O2 content than pulmonary vein}
(b) Comparison of the cross-section of an artery & a vein (artery has a thicker
wall than vein) {DSE 15 P1-11, CE 04-3(c)}
(c) Structural adaptations of blood capillaries on the exchange of materials