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    Structure and Function of The Cardiovascular System

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    RachelHatcher123
    The cardiovascular system involves the heart, veins, arteries, and capillaries that form the major transportation system of blood throughout the body. The heart pumps oxygenated blood received from the lungs to the arteries and the deoxygenated blood back to the lungs via the veins. It has four chambers - two atria and two ventricles separated by a septum to prevent mixing of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood. Arteries carry oxygenated blood away from the heart while veins carry deoxygenated blood back to the heart. Capillaries connect arteries and veins and allow for gas and nutrient exchange between blood and body tissues.

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    Structure and Function of The Cardiovascular System

    Uploaded by

    RachelHatcher123
    251 views5 pages
    The cardiovascular system involves the heart, veins, arteries, and capillaries that form the major transportation system of blood throughout the body. The heart pumps oxygenated blood received from the lungs to the arteries and the deoxygenated blood back to the lungs via the veins. It has four chambers - two atria and two ventricles separated by a septum to prevent mixing of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood. Arteries carry oxygenated blood away from the heart while veins carry deoxygenated blood back to the heart. Capillaries connect arteries and veins and allow for gas and nutrient exchange between blood and body tissues.

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    Structure and function of the cardiovascular system

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    The cardiovascular system involves the heart, veins, arteries, and capillaries that form the major transportation system of blood throughout the body. The heart pumps oxygenated blood received from the lungs to the arteries and the deoxygenated blood back to the lungs via the veins. It has four chambers - two atria and two ventricles separated by a septum to prevent mixing of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood. Arteries carry oxygenated blood away from the heart while veins carry deoxygenated blood back to the heart. Capillaries connect arteries and veins and allow for gas and nutrient exchange between blood and body tissues.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    251 views5 pages

    Structure and Function of The Cardiovascular System

    Uploaded by

    RachelHatcher123
    The cardiovascular system involves the heart, veins, arteries, and capillaries that form the major transportation system of blood throughout the body. The heart pumps oxygenated blood received from the lungs to the arteries and the deoxygenated blood back to the lungs via the veins. It has four chambers - two atria and two ventricles separated by a septum to prevent mixing of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood. Arteries carry oxygenated blood away from the heart while veins carry deoxygenated blood back to the heart. Capillaries connect arteries and veins and allow for gas and nutrient exchange between blood and body tissues.

    Copyright:

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    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
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    Structure and function of the cardiovascular system

    The cardiovascular system involves the Heart, Veins, Venules,


    Arteries, Arterioles and Capillaries. This forms the major
    transportation of blood in the body. Oxygen is moved from the
    lungs around the body. Carbon dioxide is carried from the body
    back to the lungs.

    The heart

    The main heart function is to circulate blood through the body


    and lungs, in two separate circulations, the body and the lungs.
    There are four chambers in the heart, the right atrium, left
    atrium, right ventricle and left ventricle. The wall separating
    the right and the left side of the heart is called the septum
    and its main function is to stop the oxygenated blood and the
    deoxygenated blood mixing. As well as the atria and ventricles
    there are four valves the bicuspid (mitral) valve, the tricuspid
    value, the aortic valve and the pulmonary valve. These valves
    main aim is to either prevent backflow or allow blood flow
    through to other parts of the heart.

    This image shows the direction of the blood flow. The blood
    comes from the body into the Vena cava and into the right
    atrium, the blood then passes through the tricuspid valve into
    the right ventricle.
    The aorta is the main artery it carries oxygenated blood to all
    parts of the body apart from the lungs. The superior vena cava
    is a vein that receives deoxygenated blood from the upper
    body and joins to the right atrium. The inferior vena cava is
    also a vein, it carries deoxygenated blood back from the lower
    body and joins to the right atrium.
    The pulmonary vein carries oxygenated blood from the lungs to
    the left atrium, the pulmonary artery carries deoxygenated
    blood from the heart back to the lungs (only artery that
    carries deoxygenated blood).
    Blood vessels

    Arteries

    These carry blood away from the heart. They carry


    oxygenated blood (all apart from the pulmonary artery). They
    have thick muscular wall to carry the blood at high speeds
    under high pressure. They are extremely elastic and can return
    to there shape easily, they can expand to accommodate extra
    blood. The arteries branch into smaller arterioles that then
    deliver blood to the capillaries.

    Arterioles

    The arterioles are smaller than the arteries, they can change
    in diameter to control the distribution of blood. They lead on
    to capillaries and have smaller walls that the arteries. They are
    responsible for controlling blood flow. During exercise they
    increase the diameter to accommodate the extra oxygen
    needed by the muscles.
    Capillaries

    Capillaries connects arteries and veins together, they are the


    smallest of all the blood vessels, they are narrow and thin to
    allow diffusion of oxygen and nutrients required by the bodies
    cells. The capillaries are located along side the muscles, this
    ensures that oxygen is available to be used to produce energy.
    Capillary cells are only one cell thick for easy diffusion.
    Capillaries have a higher pressure than in the veins but less
    than in the arteries.

    Venules

    These are small vessels that link to the capillaries, they carry
    deoxygenated blood back to the veins to then carry blood back
    to the heart.
    Veins

    These carry deoxygenated blood, they have thinner walls than


    the arteries with a rather large diameter. They blood flow in
    the veins is slow and has a low pressure, surrounding muscles
    are then needed to push the blood back to the heart. These
    muscles will squeeze the vein inwards. There are lots of valves
    in the vein to prevent backflow when the muscles relax. The
    veins branch from smaller vessels called venules which are
    linked to the capillaries.

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