Transport in Animals - 1

 The blood, pumped by the heart travel all around the body in blood vessels.
 It leaves the heart in arteries and returns in veins.
 Valves, present in the heart and veins, ensure a one-way flow for the blood.
 As blood enters an organ, the arteries divide in to smaller arterioles, which supply the capillaries.
 In these vessels the blood moves much more slowly, allowing the exchange of materials such as oxygen and
glucose, carbon dioxide and other wastes.
 Blood leaving an organ is collected in venules, which transfer it on to larger veins.

Functions of the Circulatory System

 The circulatory system has functions which can be sub-divided into:
i. Role in homeostasis (i.e. keeping the body’s internal environment to a near-constant state)
ii. As a circulatory transport system
iii. As a defence mechanism (Immunity)

1. Homeostatic functions
 All the cells of the body are bathed by tissue fluid which is derived from plasma (part of blood).
 Tissue fluid supplies the cells with the food and oxygen necessary for their living chemistry, and removes the
products of their activities which, if they accumulated, would poison them.
 The composition of the blood plasma is regulated by the liver and kidneys so that, within narrow limits, the living
cells are soaked in a liquid of almost unvarying composition.
 This provides them with the environment they need and enables them to live and grow in the most favourable
conditions.
 By delivering oxygen and nutrients to the tissue fluid and removing the excretory products, the blood fulfils a
homeostatic function, maintaining the constancy of the internal environment.

2. Transport
a) Transport of oxygen from the lungs to the tissues
 In the lungs, the concentration of oxygen is high and so the oxygen combined with the haemoglobin in the
red cell, forming oxy-haemoglobin.
 The blood is said to be oxygenated.
 When this oxygenated blood reaches tissues where oxygen is being used up, the oxy-haemoglobin breaks
down and releases its oxygen to the tissues.
 Oxygenated blood is a bright red colour, deoxygenated (without oxygen) blood is dark red.

b) Transport of carbon dioxide from the tissues to the lungs

 The blood picks up carbon dioxide from actively respiring cells and carries it to the lungs. In the lungs, the
carbon dioxide escapes from the blood and is breathed out.
  The carbon dioxide is carried in the form of hydrogen-carbonate ions (-HCO3-).
 Some of the hydrogencarbonate is carried in the red cells, but most of it is dissolved in the blood plasma.

c) Transport of digested food from the intestine to the tissues

 The soluble products of digestion pass into the capillaries of the villi lining the small intestine.
 They are carried in solution by the plasma and, after passing through the liver, enter the main blood
system.
 Glucose, salts, vitamins and some proteins pass out of the capillaries and into the tissue fluid.
 The cells bathed by this fluid take up the substances they need for their living processes.

d) Transport of nitrogenous waste from the liver to the kidneys

 When the liver changes amino acids into glycogen, the amino part of the molecules (-NH2 ) is changed into
the nitrogenous waste product, urea.
 This substance is carried away in the blood circulation.
 When the blood passes through the kidneys, much of the urea is removed and excreted.
e) Transport of Hormones
 Hormones are chemicals made by certain glands in the body.
 The blood carries these chemicals from the glands which make them, to the organs called target organs
where they affect the rate of activity.
 For example, a hormone Insulin, is made in the pancreas, is carried by the blood to the liver and controls
how much glucose is stored as glycogen.

f) Transport of heat
 The limbs and head lose heat to the surrounding air.
 Chemical activity in the liver and contraction of muscles produce heat.
 The blood carries the heat from the warm places to the clod places and so helps to keep an even
temperature in all regions.
 Also by opening or closing blood vessels in the skin, the blood system helps to control the body
temperature.

Table 1 : Transport by the blood system

Substance From To

Oxygen Lungs Whole body

Carbon dioxide Whole body Lungs
Urea Liver Kidneys
Hormones Glands Target organs
Digested food Intestine Whole body
Heat Liver and muscles Whole body
NB: The blood is not directed to a particular organ. A molecule of urea may go round the circulation many times before it
enters the renal artery, by chance, and is removed by the kidneys.
 3. Immunity
 Blood contains clotting agents, white blood cells and antibodies that act as agents to protect the body from
infections.
 We’ll cover more about immunity under the sub-section of Immunity.

Double Circulation of mammals

 The route of the circulation of blood in a mammal is shown in Figure 1:

Figure 1: Double blood circulation of a mammal

 The blood passes twice through the heart during one complete circuit: once on its way to the body and again on its
way to the lungs.
 The circulation through the lungs is called the pulmonary circulation; the circulation around the rest of the body is
called the systemic circulation.
 On average, a red blood cell would go around the whole circulation in 45 seconds.
 A more detailed diagram of the circulation is shown on the right side of Figure 1.
 A double circulation has the advantage of maintaining a high blood pressure to all the major organs of the body.
 The right side of the heart collects blood from the body, builds up the blood pressure and sends it to the lungs to
be oxygenated, but the pressure drops during the process.
 The left side of the heart receives oxygenated blood from the lungs, builds up the blood pressure again and pumps
the oxygenated blood to the body.
Heart
 The heart pumps blood through the circulatory system to all the major organs of the body.
 The vertical section of the heart is shown in Figure 2 showing its internal structure.
 Since the heart is seen as if in a dissection of a person facing you, the left side is drawn on the right.

Figure 2: Vertical Section of the Heart

 If you study Figure 2 you will see that there are four chambers.
 The upper, thin-walled chambers are the atria (singular = atrium) and each of these opens into a thick-walled
chamber, the ventricle, below.
 Blood enters the atria from large veins.
 The pulmonary vein brings oxygenated blood from the lungs into the left atrium.
 The vena cava brings deoxygenated blood from the body tissues into the right atrium.
 The blood passes from each atrium to its corresponding ventricle, and the ventricle pumps it out into the arteries.
 The left chambers are separated from the right chambers by a wall of muscle called a septum.
  The artery carrying oxygenated blood to the body from the left ventricle is the aorta.
 The pulmonary artery carries deoxygenated blood from the right ventricle to the lungs.
 The heart muscle is supplied with food and oxygen by the coronary arteries.

Pumping action of the heart

Figure 3: Diagram of heartbeat (only the left side is shown)

 In pumping the blood, the muscle in the walls of the atria and ventricles contracts and relaxes (Figure 3a).
 The walls of the atria contract first and force blood into the two ventricles.
 Then the ventricles contract and send blood into the arteries.
 Valves prevent blood flowing backwards during or after heart contractions (Figure 4).
 Between the right atrium and the right ventricle is the tricuspid (with 3 flaps) valve.
 Between the left atrium and left ventricle is the bicuspid (with two flaps).
 The flaps of these valves are shaped rather like parachutes, with strings called tendons or cords to prevent their
being turned inside out.
 In the pulmonary artery and aorta are the semi-lunar valves (half-moon shaped).
 These each consist of three pockets which are pushed flat against the artery walls when the blood flows one way.
 If blood tries to flow the other way, the pockets fill up and meet in the middle to stop the flow of blood (Figure 4
below).
  When the ventricles contract, blood pressure closes the bicuspid and tricuspid calves and these prevent blood
returning to the atria.
 When the ventricles relax the blood pressure in the arteries closes the semi-lunar valves so preventing the return
of blood to the ventricles.
 There are a number of ways by which the activity of the heart can be monitored. These include measuring pulse
rate, listening to heart sounds and the use of electrocardiograms (ECGs)

Figure 4: Action of semi-lunar valves