Cardiovascular system and
its control
Major Functions of CV system
• Delivery of oxygen and other nutrients
• Removal of CO2 and other metabolic waste.
• Transport of hormones
• Thermoregulation
• Maintenance of acid-base balance and
overall fluid balance
• Immune function
This system needs three components
• Heart (Pump)
• Blood Vessels (channels) CIRCULATION
• Blood (Fluid Medium)
HEART
Blood flow Through the Heart
• The human circulatory system is really a two-part
system whose purpose is to bring oxygen-bearing blood
to all the tissues of the body. When the heart contracts
it pushes the blood out into two major loops or cycles.
In the systemic loop, the blood circulates into the body’s
systems, bringing oxygen to all its organs, structures and
tissues and collecting carbon dioxide waste. In the
pulmonary loop, the blood circulates to and from the
lungs, to release the carbon dioxide and pick up new
oxygen.
• The systemic cycle is controlled by the left side of the
heart, the pulmonary cycle by the right side of the heart.
• The systemic loop begins when the oxygen-rich blood coming
from the lungs enters the upper left chamber of the heart,
the left atrium. As the chamber fills, it presses open the
mitral valve and the blood flows down into the left ventricle.
When the ventricles contract during a heartbeat, the blood
on the left side is forced into the aorta. The blood leaving the
aorta brings oxygen to all the body’s cells through the
network of ever smaller arteries and capillaries. The used
blood from the body returns to the heart through the
network of veins. All of the blood from the body is eventually
collected into the two largest veins: the superior vena cava,
which receives blood from the upper body, and the inferior
vena cava, which receives blood from the lower body region.
Both vena cava empty the blood into the right atrium of the
heart.
• From here the blood begins its journey through
the pulmonary cycle. From the right atrium the
blood descends into the right ventricle through
the tricuspid valve. When the ventricle
contracts, the blood is pushed into the
pulmonary artery that branches into two main
parts: one going to the left lung, one to the right
lung. The fresh, oxygen-rich blood returns to the
left atrium of the heart through the pulmonary
veins.
Aortic Valve Pulmonary
MITRAL Valve Veins
Cardiac Conduction System (CCS)
• The normal electrical conduction in the heart
allows the impulse that is generated by the
sinoatrial node (SA node) of the heart to be
propagated to (and stimulate) the cardiac
muscle (myocardium). The myocardium
contracts after stimulation. It is the ordered
stimulation of the myocardium that allows
efficient contraction of the heart, thereby
allowing blood to be pumped throughout the
body.
Main Components of CCS
• Sinoatrial (SA)node
• Atrioventricular (AV) node
• AV Bundle (bundle of His)
• Bundle Branches (Right and Left)
• Purkinje fibers
Electrical Conduction
• The SA node is the natural pacemaker of the heart. The SA
node releases electrical stimuli at a regular rate, the rate is
dictated by the needs of the body. Each stimulus passes
through the myocardial cells of the atria creating a wave of
contraction which spreads rapidly through both atria.
• The electrical stimulus from the SA node eventually
reaches the AV node and is delayed briefly so that the
contracting atria have enough time to pump all the blood
into the ventricles. Once the atria are empty of blood the
valves between the atria and ventricles close. At this point
the atria begin to refill and the electrical stimulus passes
through the AV node and Bundle of His into the Bundle
branches and Purkinje fibres.
• All the cells in the ventricles receive an electrical stimulus causing
them to contract. As the ventricles contract, the right ventricle
pumps blood to the lungs where carbon dioxide is released and
oxygen is absorbed, and the left ventricle pumps blood into the
aorta from where it passes into the coronary and arterial circulation.
• At this point the ventricles are empty, the atria are full and the
valves between them are closed. The SA node is about to release
another electrical stimulus and the process is about to repeat itself.
However, there is a 3rd section to this process. The SA node and AV
node contain only one stimulus. Therefore every time the nodes
release a stimulus they must recharge before they can do it again.
• The SA node recharges while the atria are refilling, and the AV
node recharges when the ventricles are refilling. In this way
there is no need for a pause in heart function. Again, this
process takes less than one third of a second.
• The term used for the release (discharge) of an electrical
stimulus is "depolarisation", and the term for recharging is
"repolarisation".
So, the 3 stages of a single heart beat are:
• Atrial depolarisation
• Ventricular depolarisation
• Atrial and ventricular repolarisation.
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