Transport in animals

Transport system in human

• Is the circulatory system (consists of pump, tubes & valves).
• Tubes or blood vessels: arteries, veins, capillaries
• Arteries-take blood away from heart
Large artery-aorta small arteries-arterioles
• Veins-take blood towards heart
Large vein-vena cava small veins-venules
• Capillaries-tiny vessels
Pass blood from arterioles to venules, join arteries to veins
Heart
Muscular pump
Located just under the ribs, slightly to the left
Made of cardiac muscle (special, strong muscle…can work on its own…receives
oxygenated blood from coronary arteries)
Never gets tired
Contains a valve system to ensure one-way blood flow thro the heart
Contains 4 chambers; atria & ventricles
Atria: thin walls to receive blood
Ventricles: thick walls to pump blood to the body under pressure
• The heart beats as the cardiac muscles contract & relax.
When they contract, the heart gets smaller, squeezing blood out.
Called a systole.
• When they relax, the heart becomes larger.
The blood is allowed to flow into atria & ventricles
Called a diastole.
• As ventricles contract, both bicuspid & tricuspid
valves shut, causes ‘lub’ sound.
• Then heart muscle relaxes (diastole).
• As ventricles relax, the semilunar valves close,
causes ‘dup’ sound.
• Then a pause before the next cycle of systole
& diastole.
Pulse
We can count our heartbeats by feeling our pulse.
Pulse is caused by the pressure of the blood as the heart pumps it to the rest of the body.
heart beats as the cardiac muscles contract & relax.
Each heartbeat creates a surge of P in arteries, called pulse.
Artificial heart can pump blood in a continuous fashion without beats (the receiver wouldn’t
have pulses).
Activity of heart can be monitored by
--Pulse rate
--Listening to sound valve closing
--ECG (electrocardiogram)
A good way to measure the rate of our heart beat is to take our pulse rate.
So heart rate is same as the pulse rate.

Check pulse beat in an artery

Measuring pulse rate (healthy person at rest & after exercise)

Let the person be still for a while.
Count the no. of heart beats per minute.
Repeat the procedure twice.
Tabulate the results.
Calculate the average heartbeat.
Follow the same experiment for the person after exercise.
Coronary heart disease CHD
Saturated fat & cholesterol deposit on coronary artery walls.
Deposits (atheroma) block the coronary arteries.
Limits the blood flow to the heart muscle.
Leads to heart attack.
Atheroma decreases the diameter of the arteries leading to high blood pressure.
Increases the risk of heart disease.
Prevention of CHD
Quit cigar smoking-CO helps build up of atheroma, nicotine increases the risk of
blood clotting.
Control diet-take less saturated fat & cholesterol (plant oil, fish oil).
Minimize stress-increases the risk of heart disease.
Obesity-control the body weight by taking a balanced diet & exercise.
Genes, age, gender also affect CHD.
Red blood cells (RBC)
Transport oxygen
Transport small amounts of carbon dioxide

Features
No nucleus
Biconcave shape provides larger surface area compared to volume
Made in bone marrow
120 days lifetime
Haemoglobin pigments capture oxygen & transported in the body
Higher surface area:volume speeds up rate of gas diffusion thro RBCs
Tiny & flexible cells-can squeeze thro tiny capillaries
White blood cells
Have nuclei
Often quite large & lobed nuclei
Can move around & squeeze out thro the capillary walls
Fight pathogens
Clear up any dead body cells
Phagocytes do this by taking in & digesting bacteria (phagocytosis)

Others produce antibodies (lymphocytes)

Platelets
Small fragments of cells
No nuclei
Helps blood clotting
--prevents excessive blood loss from damaged vessels
--prevents the entry of pathogens thro damaged skin