Transport in Humans

Mammals have developed a transport system in their bodies consisting of:

- A series of blood vessels that run through the entire body
- Fluid, which flows through the vessels, carrying materials around the body
- A heart (muscular pump) which ensures that the fluid keeps flowing through the vessels

Transport in human subdivided into:

 Blood system
 Lymphatic system

Fluids contained in these systems are blood (in blood system) and lymph (in lymphatic system).

Structure and composition:

A) PLASMA
- A pale yellowish liquid
- About 90% water and the rest is a complex mixture of various dissolved substances such as
o Soluble proteins: fibrinogen, prothrombin and antibodies. FIBRINOGEN and
PROTHROMBIN PLAY AN IMPORTANT PART IN THE CLOTTING OF BLOOD.
ANTIBODIES HELP TO FIGHT DISEASES.
o Dissolved mineral salts eg.: hydrogencarbonates, chloride, sulphates and
phosphates of calcium, sodium and potassium. CALCIUM IS ESSENTIAL FOR BLOOD
CLOTTING.
o Food substances eg.: GLUCOSE, AMINO ACIDS, FATS and VITAMINS.
o Excretory products eg.: UREA, URIC ACID and CREATININE.
o Hormones eg.: INSULIN.
 B) RED BLOOD CELLS / ERYTHROCYTES
- Contains the pigment HAEMOGLOBIN (a special iron-containing protein) which allows it to
combines reversibly with oxygen. ENABLES RBC TO TRANSPORT OXYGEN FROM THE LUNGS
TO ALL CELLS IN THE BODY.
- Circular, flattened biconcave disc. Centre of the cell is thinner than its edge. THIS IS TO
INCREASE THE CELL’S SURFACE AREA TO VOLUME RATIO THUS CAN ABSORB AND RELEASE
OXYGEN AT FASTER RATE.
- It is elastic and can turn bell-shaped in order to squeeze through blood vessels smaller than
itself in diameter.
- Produces by the BONE MARROW.
- Lifespan about 3-4 MONTHS. When worn out, there are destroyed in the SPLEEN.
Haemoglobin that is released from destroyed RBC is brought to liver and broken down as
bile pigments (excreted into the gut in bile) or as iron which stored in liver.

C) WHITE BLOOD CELLS / LEUCOCYTES

- Larger than RBC and fewer in number.
- Its colourless and does not contain haemoglobin
- Irregular in shape and contains nucleus
- It can move, change its shape and squeeze through the walls of the thinnest blood capillaries
into the spaces among tissue cells.
- Contain 2 main kinds:
o Lymphocytes
 With round nucleus
 Made in lymph nodes
 Function: produce antibodies to kill foreign bodies including virus (except
bacteria)
o Phagocytes
 With lobed nucleus and made in red bone marrow.
 Function: engulf, ingest and destroy bacteria (phagocytosis)

TISSUE REJECTION
White blood cell usually attack any foreign bodies entering the body.

In any transplant surgeries, WBC tend to attack the new organs and destroying them. This lead to
failure of such surgeries. To overcome this problem, Immunosuppressant drug is used to make the
WBC to ‘immune’ to the new cells.

In tissue graft, tissue from the patient’s own body is used instead.

D) PLATELETS
- Fragments of cells
- Made in Red Bone Marrow
- Function: clotting of blood (occur at wound to stop bleeding).
 Blood clot formation. Fibrin forms a meshwork of fibres at the wound. Red blood cells become
ensnared(trap) in the fibrin mesh.
Injury/rupture in blood vessels

activates

Release of thromboplastin

cause

Prothrombin Thrombin
Ca2+

Fibrin
Fibrinogen (Soluble plasma protein) (insoluble fibre)

Blood clot

1. When tissues are damaged and blood vessel are cut, platelets block the smaller capillaries.
2. Platelets produced a series of enzymes that changed fibrinogen (soluble plasma protein) to
fibrin (insoluble plasma protein).
3. Fibre forms a network of fibres on wound. RBCs are trap in this network and form a clot.
4. The clot dries up to form scab.

Importance of clot:
1. To stop bleeding
2. To prevent infection

Extra info on blood:

1. Oxygenated blood à blood containing mainly oxy-haemoglobin.
2. Deoxygenated blood à blood containing little amount of oxy-haemoglobin.
3. 200,000 million RBC are replaced daily.
4. Normal ratio of RBC to WBC is approx. to 600:1
5. Blood groups
Group Can donate blood to Can receive blood from
A A, AB A and O
B B, AB B and O
AB AB All group
O All group O
Blood group AB à universal acceptor
Blood group O à universal donor

People living at high altitude have high number of RBC, why?

à at high altitude, less Oxygen in air. So more RBC are produce to maximise intake of oxygen into
the body.
BLOOD VESSELS
Main function: to distribute blood to all parts of the body.
Diameter size: 0.01mm to 10mm
There are three kinds of blood vessels
1. Artery 2. Vein 3. Capillary

Artery Vein Capillary

Cross section
(simple)

Function Transport blood away To transport blood To transport blood

from the heart towards the heart from artery to vein
Constituents Usually oxygenated Usually deoxygenated From oxygenated to
of blood blood (except blood (except deoxygenated (slowly
pulmonary artery & pulmonary vein and losing its oxygen)
umbilical artery) umbilical vein)
Walls Very thick and Thinner walls than Very thin: wall is
muscular: this is to arteries surrounded by a layer
enable the artery to of cells (one cell thick)
carry blood at high
pressure
Lumen Smaller than veins Bigger than arteries Tiny
Pulse present absent Absent
Pressure Very high due to Low pressure From higher to lower
contraction of the
heart
Valves absent present absent
Extra Arteries are divided Veins are divided into White blood cells,
information into smaller arteries smaller veins called simple food and
called arterioles. venules. oxygen gas are able to
move out from
Blood flow in arteries Blood flow in veins is capillary’s wall.
is fast due to high slow. Blood is moving
pressure from heart in veins due to valves Blood moved in
contraction and that prevent backflow capillary due to
contraction of the of blood and pressure from the end
artery’s wall. contraction of the thin of arterioles.
vein’s wall (very little
pressure).
THE HEART
The main function: to pump blood to all parts of the body.

Structure:
- The wall of the heart is made up of thick muscles known as ___________________ muscles.
- There are __________ chambers of the heart.
o The two upper chambers are known as _______________ or _______________
o The two lower chambers are known as __________________
o The function of the left auricle: to pump blood to the ______________________
o The function of the left ventricle: to pump blood to
_____________________________________________
o The function of the right ventricle: to pump blood to ______________________
- Which chamber is the thickest? Why?
o The thickest chamber is the _______________________
o Reason: it has to pump blood to all parts of the body except lung at high pressure.
- The left side of the heart contains _____________________ blood
- The right side of the heart contains __________________________ blood.
- The left side is separated from the right side by a wall of muscles called
_____________________.
- Valves are present in the heart.
o Function of the valves: to present the backflow of the blood.
o Tricuspid valve (has three flaps) location: between right auricle & right ventricle.
 Function: prevent backflow of blood from right ventricle to right auricle.
o Bicuspid valve (has two flaps): between left auricle & left ventricle.
 Function: prevent backflow of blood from left ventricle to left auricle.
o Semi-lunar valves:
 Function: prevent backflow of blood to the ventricles.
 - The valves are supported by tissue called Tendon.
o Function of tendon: Prevent valves from being turned inside out.
- Pacemaker: a group of specialised muscles cells found at the top of the right auricle which
initiate a heart beat.

Other information on heart:

- The heart is enclosed by a tough membrane called pericardium.
- The heart muscles are supplied with food and oxygen by coronary artery.
- Wastes from the heart cells are carried by coronary veins.

MOVEMENT OF BLOOD INSIDE THE HEART

- The pulmonary vein carries oxygenated blood from the lung to the left atrium. At the same
time vena cava carries the deoxygenated blood from the body tissue to the right auricle.
- In the left side of the heart, the blood moves from the left atrium to the left ventricle.
- In the right side of the heart, the blood moves from the right atrium to the right ventricle.
- From the left ventricle, the blood moves to the body tissue through a big artery called the
aorta.
- The blood from the right ventricle moves to the lung through an artery called pulmonary
artery.

THE PUMPING ACTION OF THE HEART

- The muscles of the heart are able to contract (becomes short and taut) and relax (back to
original size.
- When the walls of the two auricles relax, blood from the blood vessels will enter the heart.
- When the auricles contract, the valves (bicuspid and tricuspid) will open and the blood will
be forced to move to the relaxed ventricle.
- After a while, the ventricles contract. The valves closed making a loud lubb sound. This
called systole. << pressure produced is high.
- Blood from the ventricles is then forced out of the heart. The ventricles relax. The semi-lunar
valves closed which makes a soft dub sound. This is called a diastole. << pressure produced
is low.

Therefore: DIASTOLE + SYSTOLE = ONE HEART BEAT.

BLOOD PRESSURE: force of blood exerted on the walls of the blood vessels.
Blood pressure will be high during systole and low during diastole. Blood pressure will be extra high
if *atheroma is formed in the blood vessels.
*Atheroma = degeneration of the walls of the arteries caused by accumulated fatty deposits and scar
tissues and leading to restriction of the circulation and a risk of thrombosis.
PULSE
The contracting ventricles caused arteries to dilate. After each dilation, the arteries recoil that cause
the blood to flow in a series of waves known as pulse wave or pulse.

What is pulse?
Pulse is ripples of pressure which can be felt at the main arteries. It is caused by dilation of arteries
that received blood from the contracting ventricles.

DUAL/DOUBLE CIRCULATION OF BLOOD

- Refers to the blood flow through the heart twice to complete one journey around the body.
- Consists of:
o pulmonary circulation à journey to and from the lungs
o body/systemic circulation à journey to and from the body cells.
- Advantage of dual/double circulation:
o Prevent lung damage because the pressure by right ventricle is much lower than left
ventricle.
o Separate the oxygenated and deoxygenated blood.

TRANSFER OF MATERIALS TO AND FROM CELLS THAT ARE FAR AWAY FROM
THE BLOOD VESSELS
 Cells that are far away from the blood vessels are nourished by a fluid called tissue fluid.
 Tissue fluid is a fluid that supplies oxygen and food to tissues further away from the blood
vessels. They also removed waste products such as carbon dioxide and urea from these
tissues.

Tissue fluid is formed as a result of plasma being forced out from the capillary wall due to
pressure from the arterioles

Content of tissue fluid

- Similar to blood plasma but with less fibrinogen.
- Contains white blood cells but no red blood cells and platelets.
- Some of the tissue fluid will not return to the capillaries but are drained to the lymph that
form a part of the lymphatic system.
- The lymph vessels form a larger vessels and emptied its contents to vena cava.
- Tissue fluid that enters the lymph vessels is known as lymph.
CORONARY HEART DISEASES
Food and oxygen is supplied to the heart muscles by the coronary arteries.

Coronary heart disease: a chronic illness in which the coronary arteries, that supply oxygenated
blood to the heart, become narrowed and unable to carry a normal amount of blood.
When its blood supply is reduced, the heart does not receive sufficient food and oxygen. This oxygen
deficit leads to two main consequences: chest pain known as angina pectoris (severe pain from left
to right) and a heart attack, in which part of the heart dies because of lack of oxygen.

Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, responsible for nearly
460,000 deaths each year. In Brunei Darussalam, cardiovascular diseases, including heart disease
and stroke is Brunei’s number two killer which makes up 29% of total deaths in 2017.

RISK FACTORS
1) Stress
2) Smoking
3) Overweight
4) High blood pressure
5) No exercise
6) High cholesterol and high saturated fat diet
7) Inherited

PREVENTION
1) Don’t smoke
2) Manage your stress
3) Exercise regularly
4) Don’t eat too much fats containing foods