Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Circulatory System
Circulatory System
Your heart looks like an upside-down pear. It is about the size of your closed fist. It is almost in the middle of your
chest. It is just off to the left side.Your heart is made of muscle. It is divided into four parts called chambers. The
chambers are hollow inside. The two chambers on top are called atria. The chambers on the bottom are called
ventricles. Your heart also has four valves that let blood in and out of the chambers.Tubes called arteries come out
of your heart. Tubes called veins go into your heart. Arteries and veins are also called blood vessels.
ARTERY/ ARTERIES
Artery, one of the tubular vessels that conveys blood from the heart to the tissues of the body. Two arteries have
direct connection with the heart: (1) the aorta, which, with its branches, conveys oxygenated blood from the left
ventricle to every part of the body; and (2) the pulmonary artery, which conveys blood from the right ventricle to the
lungs, whence it is returned bearing oxygen to the left side of the heart (see Heart: Structure and Function). Arteries
in their ultimate minute branchings are connected with the veins by capillaries. They are named usually from the
part of the body where they are found, as the brachial (arm) or the metacarpal (wrist) artery; or from the organ which
they supply, as the hepatic (liver) or the ovarian artery. The facial artery is the branch of the external carotid artery
that passes up over the lower jaw and supplies the superficial portion of the face; the hemorrhoidal arteries are three
vessels that supply the lower end of the rectum; the intercostal arteries are the arteries that supply the space between
the ribs; the lingual artery is the branch of the external carotid artery that supplies the tongue. The arteries expand
and then constrict with each beat of the heart, a rhythmic movement that may be felt as the pulse.
Veins
Veins are blood vessels that return blood to the heart from other parts of the body. This false-color electron
micrograph shows red blood cells packed into a capillary, the smallest type of blood vessel. Blood flows from the
capillaries into veins after oxygen has been exchanged.
CAPILLARY
Capillary, one of the minute blood vessels that form the connection between the arteries and the veins. These tiny
vessels vary in diameter from 0.0127 to about 0.2032 mm (0.0005 to about 0.008 in) and are present in great
numbers throughout the entire body. The walls of capillaries are exceedingly thin and readily permeable. They are
surrounded by lymph, and there is a constant interchange between the substances in the blood within the capillaries
and the waste products in the body tissues and lymph outside. This interchange facilitates the processes of nutrition
and elimination and enables the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide to take place. Lymph capillaries assist the
blood capillaries in this process.