Circulatory

System
By Dr Vipan Goyal
 Circulatory System
• William Harvey discovered the circulation of blood.
• two types - open or closed.
• In Open circulatory system blood pumped by the heart passes
through large vessels into open spaces or body cavities called
sinuses. E.g. arthropods and mollusks
• In closed circulatory system blood pumped by the heart is always
circulated through a closed network of blood vessels. This pattern is
considered to be more advantageous as the flow of fluid can be
more precisely regulated. E.g. Annelids and chordates
Circulatory System
 Circulatory System
• All vertebrates possess a muscular chambered heart.
• Fishes have a 2-chambered heart with an atrium and a ventricle.
• Amphibians and the reptiles (except crocodiles) have a 3-
chambered heart with two atria and a single ventricle, whereas
crocodiles, birds and mammals possess a 4-chambered heart with
two atria and two ventricles.
• In fishes the heart pumps out deoxygenated blood which is
oxygenated by the gills and supplied to the body parts from where
deoxygenated blood is returned to the heart (single circulation).
 Circulatory System
• In amphibians and reptiles, the left atrium receives oxygenated blood
from the gills/lungs/skin and the right atrium gets the deoxygenated blood
from other body parts. However, they get mixed up in the single ventricle
which pumps out mixed blood (incomplete double circulation).
• In birds and mammals, oxygenated and deoxygenated blood received by
the left and right atria respectively passes on to the ventricles of the same
sides. The ventricles pump it out without any mixing up, i.e., two separate
circulatory pathways are present in these organisms, hence, these
animals have double circulation.( pulmonary and systemic)
• Animals such as sponges and Hydra do not possess any circulatory
system.
 Human Circulatory System
What is the circulatory system?
• The circulatory system carries blood and dissolved substances to
and from different places in the body.
• The Heart has the job of pumping these things around the body.
The Heart pumps blood and substances around the body in tubes
called blood vessels. The Heart and blood vessels together make up
the Circulatory System.
 Human Circulatory System
What is the circulatory system?
• The circulatory system carries blood and dissolved substances to
and from different places in the body.
• The Heart has the job of pumping these things around the body.
The Heart pumps blood and substances around the body in tubes
called blood vessels. The Heart and blood vessels together make up
the Circulatory System.
 BLOOD CIRCULATION IN HEART
• Heart, the mesodermally derived organ [the middle layer of cells or
tissues of an embryo, or the parts derived from this (e.g. cartilage,
muscles, and bone)], is situated in the thoracic cavity, in between
the two lungs, slightly tilted to the left.
• A thin, muscular wall called the interatrial septum separates the
right and the left atria, whereas a thick-walled, the inter-ventricular
septum, separates the left and the right ventricles.
• The atrium and the ventricle of the same side are also separated by
a thick fibrous tissue called the atrio-ventricular septum
BLOOD CIRCULATION IN HEART
 BLOOD CIRCULATION IN HEART
• The opening between the right atrium and the right ventricle is guarded
by a valve formed of three muscular flaps or cusps, the tricuspid valve,
whereas a bicuspid or mitral valve guards the opening between the left
atrium and the left ventricle.
• The openings of the right and the left ventricles into the pulmonary artery
and the aorta respectively are provided with the semilunar valves.
• The valves in the heart allows the flow of blood only in one direction, i.e.,
from the atria to the ventricles and from the ventricles to the pulmonary
artery or aorta. These valves prevent any backward flow
BLOOD CIRCULATION IN HEART
 BLOOD CIRCULATION IN HEART
• The deoxygenated blood is transported to heart right atrium by vena cava (longest
vein).
• The high pressure at right atrium causes tricuspid valve to open, the valves get
relaxed and blood transfers to right ventricle. Then, again the high pressure is
created at the right ventricle, it relaxes and blood transfer through pulmonary
arteries to lungs.
• Where the deoxygenated blood gets oxygen and oxygenated.
• The oxygenated blood is transferred by pulmonary veins to left atrium when the
left atrium get contracted, pressure get built up and the blood transferred to left
ventricles through mitral or bicuspid valves.
• From left ventricle it transfers to all the body parts by aorta (longest artery).
Human Heart Chambers
 Animal and heart chambers
1. Left Atrium: Takes oxygen-rich blood from the lungs and pumps it
into the left ventricle.
2. Left Ventricle: Pumps the oxygen-rich blood through the aorta
which sends it out into the body.
3. Right Atrium: Takes the used blood from the body that no longer
has oxygen and pumps it into the right ventricle.
4. Right Ventricle: Pumps the oxygen-less blood into the lungs where
it picks up oxygen again.
 Right side of the heart
• Blood enters the heart through two large
veins, the inferior and superior vena cava,
emptying oxygen- poor blood from the
body into the right atrium of the heart.
• As the atrium contracts, blood flows from
your right atrium into your right ventricle
through the open tricuspid valve.
• When the ventricle is full, the tricuspid
valve shuts, as the ventricle contracts,
blood leaves the heart through the
pulmonic valve, into the pulmonary artery
and to the lungs where it is oxygenated.
 Left side of the heart
• The pulmonary vein empties oxygen-
rich blood from the lungs into the left
atrium of the heart.
• As the atrium contracts, blood flows
from your left atrium into your left
ventricle through the open mitral valve.
• When the ventricle is full, the mitral
valve shuts.
• As the ventricle contracts, blood leaves
the heart through the aortic valve, into
the aorta and to the body.
 The Aorta
• The largest artery in the body, originating
from the left ventricle of the heart and
extending down to the abdomen, where it
branches of into two smaller arteries. The
aorta distributes oxygenated blood to all
parts of the body.
• Blood from the heart gets around the body
through blood vessels
• There are three types of blood vessels:
1. Artery
2. Vein
3. Capillary
 Arteries

• The only artery in the

body which carried
deoxygenated blood
is called pulmonary
artery.
 Veins

• The only artery which

carries oxygenated
blood is called the
pulmonary veins
 Capillaries

• A collection of
capillaries is known as
a capillary bed.
Difference- Arteries, veins & capillaries
 PACEMAKER OF THE HEART
• The SINOATRIAL NODE, also referred
to as the pacemaker of the heart,
coordinates heart contractions.
• The ATRIOVENTRICLE NODE lies on
the right side of the partition that
divides the atria, near the bottom of
the right atrium.
• When the impulses generated by the
SA node reach the AV node, they are
delayed for about a tenth of a second.
 PACEMAKER OF THE HEART
• This delay allows the atria to contract, therby emptying blood into the
ventricles.
• Heart rate is the speed of the heartbeat measured by the number of
contractions of the heart per unit of time, typically beats per minute. The
heart rate can vary from 60 to 90 beats per minute. Average rate is 72
beats per minute. At this rate, a complete cardiac cycle takes roughly 0.8
seconds to complete.
• A healthy blood pressure reading should have lower than 120/80 mmHg.
Normal blood pressure is less than 120mmHg systolic and 80 mmHg
diastolic.
Cardiac Cycle and Blood Pressure
 Heartbeat
• During each cardiac cycle two prominent
sounds are produced which can be easily
heard through a stethoscope. The first
heart sound (lub) is associated with the
closure of the tricuspid and bicuspid
valves whereas the second heart sound
(dub) is associated with the closure of
the semilunar valves.
 Electrocardiograph (ECG)
• To obtain a standard ECG, a
patient is connected to the
machine with three electrical
leads (one to each wrist and
to the left ankle) that
continuously monitor the
heart activity.
• Each peak in the ECG is identified with a
letter from P to T that corresponds to a
specific electrical activity of the heart.
• The P-wave represents the electrical
excitation (or depolarisation) of the atria,
which leads to the contraction of both
the atria.
• The QRS complex represents the
depolarisation of the ventricles, which
initiates the ventricular contraction.
• The contraction starts shortly after Q and
marks the beginning of the systole.
• The T-wave represents the
return of the ventricles from
excited to normal state
(repolarization). The end of the
T-wave marks the end of
systole.
• Obviously, by counting the
number of QRS complexes that
occur in a given time period,
one can determine the heart
beat rate of an individual.
 Regulation of Cardiac Activity
• Normal activities of the heart are regulated intrinsically, i.e., auto regulated by
specialized muscles (nodal tissue), hence the heart is called myogenic.
• A special neural center in the medulla oblangata can moderate the cardiac
function through autonomic nervous system (ANs).
• Neural signals through the sympathetic nerves (part of ANS) can increase the
rate of heart beat, the strength of ventricular contraction and thereby the
cardiac output.
• On the other hand, parasympathetic neural signals (another component of ANS)
decrease the rate of heart beat, speed of conduction of action potential and
thereby the cardiac output. Adrenal medullary hormones can also increase the
cardiac output.
 Disorders of Circulatory System
• High Blood Pressure (Hypertension)- 140/90
• High blood pressure leads to heart diseases and also affects
vital organs like brain and kidney.
• Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)/ atherosclerosis
• deposits of calcium, fat, cholesterol and fibrous tissues, which
makes the lumen of arteries narrower.
• Angina
• It is also called ‘angina pectoris’. A symptom of acute chest pain
appears when no enough oxygen is reaching the heart muscle.
• Heart Failure
• state of heart when it is not pumping blood effectively
enough to meet the needs of the body. It is sometimes
called congestive heart failure because congestion of
the lungs is one of the main symptoms of this disease.
• cardiac arrest
• (when the heart stops beating) or a heart attack (when
the heart muscle is suddenly damaged by an
inadequate blood supply).
Thank You