Practical 13 – Cardiovascular System Microanatomy

Class Objectives
By the end of this class you should be able to:
a) Identify different types of blood cell by their histological appearance and abundance.
b) List the differences between arteries, veins and capillaries.
c) Identify the key histological features of the heart.

Task 1 – Micrographs (please complete prior to the practical)

1. Examine micrographs available on Canvas and answer the associated questions

Task 2 – Heart and Vessels (completed during practical session)

1. With the slides available on PathXl, produce a learning aid which visually compares
and contrasts the three different layers of the heart with the three tunics associated
with vessels

How do I do this?
 In your groups, examine slides CV04 (heart), CV12 & CV16 (large blood vessels)
and CV21 (small blood vessels).

 Take representative images, label these and present to your demonstrator.

 In your learning aid you will need to:

o Exemplify the differences between CV12 and CV16 and label the relevant key
histological features of each layer for each vessel

o Identify the layers of the wall of the heart and the key histological components
of each.

o Exemplify the differences between small veins and small muscular arteries
and label the key distinguishing histological features

 Please submit your learning aid to your demonstrator (via MS Teams) prior to the
end of your session.

 A summary of the slides will be made available after the session.