A.

Cardiac cycle

 Sequence of events in one heartbeat.

 3 stages in cardiac cycle: Atrial systole, ventricular systole & diastole
 Lasts approximately 0.8 s
1. Atrial systole (contraction of atria)- 0.1s
 Cardiac cycle initiated in the sinoatrial node (SA)
 Excitation wave spreads from SA node throughout two atria
 Both atria contract and the pressure of blood forces the opening of
the atrioventricular (AV) valves
 Blood from atria flows into ventricles.
 The semilunar valves remain closed
2. Ventricular systole (contraction of ventricles)- 0.3s
 Atria relax
 Electrical impulses conducted from AV node to bundle of His,
Purkinje fibres and to the ventricle muscles
 Ventricles contract forcing blood flows into the pulmonary arteries
and the aorta
  Pressure of blood in ventricles forces the AV valves to close
preventing backflow of blood into the atria
 The closure produces the first sound ‘lub’
 The pressure forces the semilunar valves to open, deoxygenated
blood flows into pulmonary arteries to the lungs and the oxygenated
blood flows into the aorta to other parts of the body
3. Diastole (relaxation of atria and ventricles)- 0.4s
 The ventricles relax and the pressure is below that of aorta and
pulmonary arteries.
 Semilunar valves close to prevent the backflow of blood from
arteries to ventricles.
 This produces the second sound ‘dup’
 The relaxation of atria & ventricles causes the deoxygenated blood
from the vena cava & the pulmonary veins to flow into the heart
 The cardiac cycle begins again.

B. Initiation and regulation of heart beat

 Cardiac muscle is myogenic, does not depend on stimulation by nerves

 Initial stimulus originates from sinoatrial (SA) node, pacemaker. It
consists of a group of specialized cells located in the right atrium wall.
 The membranes of the cells of SA node are permeable to sodium ions.
Thus, sodium ions enter into the cells and the membranes depolarized.
  Excitatory wave of depolarization generated which spreads from SA
node to both atria causing them to contract
 Slowing down occurs as depolarization of AV node is delayed for about
0.1s. This allows the atria to complete their contraction and empty the
blood into the ventricles
 Impulses from AV node conducted by bundle of His in the
interventricular septum towards the heart apex
 Impulses are conducted by Purkinje fibres throughout the ventricular
walls. This causes the contraction of both ventricles forcing blood flows
into the pulmonary arteries and the aorta.
External factors
 SA node can initiate the heartbeat on its own but the heart rate can
modified by external factors through autonomic nervous system
(sympathetic & parasympathetic nerves)
 Release of noradrenaline by sympathetic nerve to heart increases
the heart rate & the stroke volume
 Release of acetylcholine by parasympathetic nerve to heart slows
down the heart rate
 SA node stimulated by hormones (adrenaline & thyroxine), increase
the heart rate
 Increases in PCO2/decreases in blood pH cause the nerve impulses
sent to stimulate the cardiac accelerator centre in medulla to
increase the heart rate.
 Increase in blood pressure stimulates stretch receptors within the
walls of the aortic arch & carotid sinuses. Impulses are sent to
cardiac inhibitory centre in medulla to decrease the heart rate.
________________________________________________________________

Questions
1. The mammalian heart continues to beat for a while even after its nervous
system has been cut.
Which of the following explains this observation?

A The cardiac muscles are still alive.

B The cardiac muscles are myogenic in nature.
C The valves of the heart are still functioning.
D The heart has Purkinje tissues.
2. A normal cardiac cycle lasts approximately 0.85 seconds. Each cycle consists
of three phases:
diastole, atrial systole and ventricle systole. Which of the following is correct
for the time period of each phase?

Diastole Atrial systole Ventricle systole

A 0.40 s 0.15 s 0.30 s
B 0.30 s 0.25 s 0.30 s
C 0.15 s 0.30 s 0.40 s
D 0.25 s 0.30 s 0.35 s

3. The diagram below shows the ECG graph for one cardiac cycle. The QRS
section is recorded during

A ventricle systole C ventricle diastole

B atrial systole D atrial diastole

4. Which are true of the atrioventricular node?

I It is located between the two atria
II It acts as a primary pacemaker
III It speeds up the transmission of impulse
IV It transmits impulse to the Purkinje fibres

A I and III
B I and IV
C II and III
D II and IV

5. Several steps in the impulse transmission of a cardiac cycle are given below.
I The impulse travels down the Purkinje fibre
II The ventricular contraction begins from the apex upwards
III The atrioventricular node receives the impulse transmission
IV The impulses from the sinoatrial node are relayed to both atria causing atrial
contraction
Which sequence of events in impulse transmission of a cardiac cycle is correct?

A I, IV, III, II
B II, IV, III, I
C III, I, II, IV
D IV, III, I, II

6. (a) Describing how the heartbeats begin and how the rate of the heartbeats is
regulated. [8 m]
 Electrical impulses initiated by the pacemaker sinoatrial node
(SA node) spread out in all directions through the wall of the
atria
 Atrioventricular node (AVN) acts as second pacemaker
transmit the cardiac impulse relay from the atria to the ventricles
 The impulses reach the AV node from SA node, and pause for
about 0.1 s before reemitted.
 The delay of impulses in the AV node gives time for the wave of
contraction to pass over the whole both atria and allow the
atria to empty completely its blood into the ventricles before
the ventricles contract
 From AV node, the impulses are reemitted along the bundle of
His and the Purkinje fibres to the base of the heart and all of
the ventricular walls.
 Heartbeats can be regulated by the autonomic nervous system
and hormones
 SA node is supplied with two nerve sets of autonomic nervous
system, named parasympathetic nerve (vagus nerve) and
sympathetic nerve.
 These two nerves do not trigger the heartbeat, but affect the
activity of the pacemaker so as to influence the rate of the
heartbeat.
 When sympathetic nerve stimulated, stimulating impulses are
transmitted to the SA node, causing an increase in rate of
contraction of cardiac muscle, thus increases the heart rate
(due to an increased depolarisation and action potential
frequency of the SA node)
 When parasympathetic nerve stimulated, inhibitory impulses
are transmitted to the SA node, causing the activity of the heart
is decreased, resulting in a decrease in the heartbeat (due to
an decreased depolarisation and action potential frequency of the
SA node)
 Stimulation of adrenal gland by sympathetic nerve triggers the
 release of hormone noradrenaline and adrenaline.
Noradrenaline increases the heart rate and adrenaline triggers a
‘flight or fight’ response by speeding up the heart rate
 Hormone thyroxine that secreted by thyroid gland, also
increases heart rate and cardiac output.