CIRCULATORY SYSTEM

OR CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM
• Consists of:
• the heart
• blood vessels
• Blood

• Every picture you see will look a little like

this:
• The colours are important!
THE CIRCUIT
 Transport oxygen and nutrients to cells

FUNCTI Transport carbon dioxide and other wastes away from

cells

Functions of the
ONSCardiovascular
OF Transport chemical messengers (hormones)

THE
System Maintain pH of body fluids

CIRCUL Distribute heat and maintain body temperature

Maintain water content and ion concentration of body

ATORY fluids

SYSTEM
Protection against disease-causing micro-organisms

Clotting when vessels are damaged to prevent blood

loss
BLOOD
 QUESTIONS TO BE ABLE TO
ANSWER…
• What role does blood play in the circulatory system?
• Blood is comprised of plasma and the formed elements. What are the components of each of
these?
• How are gases transported in the blood?
 WHAT IS BLOOD?
• Blood is made up of 2 parts
• Plasma – the liquid part
• ~55% blood volume. ~90% water
• Dissolved substances – nutrients (CHO, AA,
lipids), gases (O2, CO2), Ions (Na+, K+, Ca2+,
Cl-, HCO3-), hormones, proteins and wastes
• Formed elements – cells and cell fragments –
these all form in the bone marrow
• Red Cells
• White Cells
• Platelets
• Adults have 4-6L of blood
FORMED
ELEMENTS
 RED BLOOD CELLS
• Also called erythrocytes
• Shaped like ‘biconcave discs’ – this gives them greater surface area to volume ratios for
better transfer of oxygen
• No nucleus – they lose it during their development, it just takes up valuable space that could
be used by haemoglobin!
• Without a nucleus, they can not undergo apoptosis (programmed cell death). So they are
removed from the circulation by the liver and spleen when they are old and damaged. They
have a life span of ~120 days
• Haemoglobin is the molecule that carries oxygen.
• It contains a heme molecule that contains iron (this is why iron deficiency causes anaemia)
• And 4 globin chains (which will become more important when we talk genetics)
 ERYTHROCYTES ARE AWESOME
•Contain haemoglobin in the cytoplasm (this is an
example of an inclusion), which is able to combine
with oxygen
•No nucleus, more room for haemoglobin
•Biconcave disc shape increasing SURFACE AREA
for oxygen exchange. Thicker edges give large
volume allowing more room for haemoglobin
 WHITE BLOOD CELLS
• Form a part of the immune system, also called leucocytes
• Two types of white cells:
• Granulocytes – have lobed nuclei and granules in their cytoplasm
• Consist of Neutrophils, basophils and eosinophils
• Agranulocytes – have a nucleus with a single ‘lobe’ and no granules in their cytoplasm
• Consist of lymphocytes and monocytes
• White cells have variable life spans ranging from hours to years. During an acute infection,
neutrophils get used very quickly. Some lymphocytes are memory cells able to mount rapid
responses to infections they have seen before, they can live for many years
• They account for a small percentage of cells in the blood (~1%)
 PLATELETS
• Also called thrombocytes
• These are not actually cells but small parts that have broken off of a large cell. They consist
of membrane and cytoplasm and have come from a cell called a megakaryocyte.
• They have a role in stopping bleeding by forming a ‘platelet plug’.
• They will initially adhere to injured vessel sites and then signal for more platelets to join
them, a process called aggregation.
• They only survive in the circulation for 3-7 days
 PLASMA
• Plasma is the liquid part of the blood. It makes up ~55% of your blood volume
• It is over 90% water.
• It is vital for a number of reasons:
• The liquid nature allows free movement of the formed elements of the blood
• The plasma controls the composition of Interstitial fluid as nutrients and wastes, water and ions
exchange between them
• The protein components of the plasma serve a number of important functions…
 PLASMA PROTEINS
• Albumen – The most abundant protein present. Essentially there for osmotic reasons, to try
to hold water inside of our blood vessels (this process is a balance of hydrostatic and
osmotic pressures)
• Immunoglobulins – proteins made by immune cells that can bind to foreign substances and
aid in inactivating them and activating the rest of the immune system to fix the problem!
• Clotting factors – these are proteins that are involved in the making and breaking down of
blood clots (important to stop bleeding after the platelet plug formation and in restoring
circulation after vessel damage has been repaired
• Transport proteins – there are some specific proteins for carrying specific molecules around
the body, especially hormones and fats
• There are others too but these are the main ones!
THIS IS NOT

GASES IN
JUST THE ROLE
OF THE PLASMA
OR THE
FORMED
ELEMENTS.
THEY BOTH
TAKE PART.
THE BLOOD
 OXYGEN
• Breathed in through our respiratory system into our alveoli
• Diffuses across the alveoli into the capillaries in the lungs
• ~3% dissolves in the plasma water
• ~97% attaches to haemoglobin in red cells to form
oxyhaemoglobin
• Haemoglobin (Hb) improved the capacity of the blood to transport O2
60 fold
• High concentrations of oxygen in the alveoli drive diffusion
into the capillaries and then into the
RBC and to the Hb
• As cells in the body are constantly using oxygen, the tissue
fluid has a low oxygen concentration
resulting in diffusion out of
the RBC and capillaries and delivery to other cells
 CARBON DIOXIDE
• Created by our cells through aerobic cellular respiration creating a relatively high
concentration in our tissues and tissue fluid driving diffusion into capillaries. Circulated back
to the lungs where it diffuses into the alveoli (where CO2 concentration is low) to be exhaled.
• More soluble than Oxygen. ~8% dissolved in the plasma water
• ~22% joins to the Hb forming carbaminohaemoglobin
• The remaining 70% undergoes a reversible chemical reaction with water in the plasma to
form bicarbonate ions.
• CO2 + H2O  H2CO3  H+ + HCO3-
• This system also helps control the pH in the blood stream
• There is an enzyme present in the lungs to split the Carbonic Acid into CO2 and H2O. This
increases the concentration of CO2 in the lung capillaries which speeds up its diffusion into
the alveoli
 OTHER NUTRIENTS AND WASTES
• Nutrients – elements and molecules that we need to eat, are absorbed into capillaries in our
digestive tracts and then circulated around the body. Dissolved nutrients can access tissue
fluid from capillaries and then enter cells either actively or passively.
• Wastes (from cellular metabolism) – diffuse into the blood stream as their production by
cells increases their local concentration and drives them into capillaries where the
concentration is lower. This is maintained at a lower level because they are processed and
excreted by the liver and kidneys. The main wastes (other than CO 2) are urea, creatinine and
uric acid – products of breakdown of proteins and nucleotides
• Heat is another waste product that our bodies need to be able to get rid of. When blood
vessels near the surface of our skin are opened up, blood flowing there is able to lose heat to
the surroundings.
 CELLULAR ACTIVITY AND BLOOD
• Hardworking cells require more energy and create more waste. Both of these require an
increased blood flow in order to supply required nutrients and remove wastes.
• Blood flow to tissues is determined by the amount of blood pumped out by the heart (cardiac
output) and the diameter of the blood vessels supplying the tissues (the bigger the vessel, the
greater the flow)
• Exercise is an example of high cellular activity. Working muscles make more CO 2 and lactic
acid (if they are not getting enough blood flow to supply sufficient oxygen). These two
wastes act as vasodilators causing the blood vessels to widen and improve blood flow