Heart Dissection Practical

Class: Date:

Method:
1. Put on safety glasses or goggles, gloves, and lab apron. Once you have your gloves on, do not touch your dirty gloves
with your stationeries, lab books, clothes or skin.
2. Obtain a dissecting pan and a set of dissecting instruments. Place the preserved sheep heart on your dissecting tray.
3. Study the figures and familiarize yourself with mammalian heart structures.

4. Examine the heart.

5. Watch the demonstration by your teacher.

Split your heart into the ventral (front) and dorsal (back) half. Make an
incision at the bottom of the heart and move up of the apex, cutting
through to the top of the heart. Cut through the septum. Cut through to
the other side of the heart laterally. This will split your heart in front and
back halves.
6. At the end of the practical, respectfully wrap the sheep heart in tissue
and gently place it in the animal waste or biohazard waste.

Observations
Chat to your partner and record your observations below

1. What are the structural similarities between the left and right side of the heart?

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2. What are the structural differences between the left and the right side of the heart?

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 Discussion Questions

1. Label the diagram above

2. Which is the largest and main artery of the circulatory system?__________________________
3. Name the major vessel that carries de-oxygenated blood back into the heart._______________
4. What separates the left and right side of the heart?________________
5. Name the blood vessel that carries blood to the lungs__________________________
6. Name the blood vessel that carries blood to from the lungs__________________________
7. Name the four chambers of the heart.
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8. What prevents backflow of blood, allowing blood to only flow in one direction?______________
9. Why are the two sides of the heart structurally different?
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10. In the diagram at the top of this page, draw red and blue arrows showing the flow of oxygenated and de-
oxygenated blood through the heart.
11. Challenge Question: Describe the journey of a red blood cell in the mammalian circulatory system.
Mention all the atria, chambers of the heart, valves, veins and arteries.
De-oxygenated blood from the body returns to the right side of the heart via the vena cava…
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Additional Challenge: Label The Internal Structures on Your Specimen

1. Cut the “Sheep Heart Structure Labels” from the worksheet provided.
2. Pin/Place the label next to the corresponding structures in the heart specimen
3. Get your teacher to review your labeling

Major Blood Vessels:

Aorta
Aorta
Vena Cava Vena Cava
Pulmonary Artery
Pulmonary Vein Pulmonary Artery

Atrioventricular Valves: Pulmonary Vein

Bicuspid/Mitral Valve
Tricuspid Value
Bicuspid/Mitral Valve

Tricuspid Valve
Arterial (Semi-Lunar) Valve Structures:
Aortic Semi-Lunar Valve Aortic Semi-Lunar Valve
Pulmonary Semi-Lunar Valves
Pulmonary Semi-Lunar Valves
Heart Chambers:
Right Atrium Right Atrium
Left Atrium
Right Ventricle
Left Atrium
Left Ventricle
Right Ventricle
Other:
Left Ventricle
Chordae Tendinaeae (Heart Strings)
Papillary Muscles Chordae Tendinaeae
Septum
Papillary Muscles

Septum