The Heart &

Circulation
MRS. K. HARRISON
The Heart

▪ Blood is usually represented in blue and red colours

▪ Blue means the blood is deoxygenated, it has little to no oxygen

▪ Red means the blood is oxygenated, rich in oxygen

▪ If purple is seen it means the blood is transitioning between the two

states.
The Heart

▪ The heart is the pump that keeps blood flowing through the
bodies of human and animals
▪ The heart is made of a special type of muscle cells, cardiac
muscle
▪ Cardiac muscles contract and relax constantly without getting
tired
▪ The beating of the heart is rhythmic, referred to as lub-dub
▪ The lub is the first part of the heart beat and the dub is the second
part.
The Heart

▪ In mammals, the heart is divided into two sides, the right and left side

▪ WHEN VIEWING HEART IN AN IMAGE THE LEFT SIDE MATCHES WITH RIGHT SIDE OF
YOUR BODY AND THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE IMAGE MATCHES WITH YOUR LEFT SIDE

▪ The sides are separated by the septum (made of muscles and fibres)
▪ Sometimes called ventricular septum

▪ Each side of the heart is subdivided into two chambers

▪ the two top chambers are called atria (singular atrium)
▪ The two bottom chambers are called ventricles
 The Left and Right Atria

Right Left
Side Side
The Left and Right Atria

SEPTU
M
The Left and Right Vantricles

SEPTU
M
The Left and Right Vantricles
The Heart

▪ The left side of the heart carries oxygenated blood and the right

side of the heart carries deoxygenated blood

▪ The Atria are responsible for receiving blood

▪ The left atrium collects oxygenated blood from the lungs

▪ The right atrium collects deoxygenated blood from the body

The Heart

▪ The atria pass the blood to

the ventricles through
atrio-ventricular valves
▪ On the right side the valve
is called the bicuspid or
mitral valve Bicuspid
▪ On the left side it is called valve
the tricuspid or Tricuspid
valve
The Heart

▪ The ventricles are responsible for pushing blood out of the heart

▪ The left ventricle pumps blood to the whole body, from head to toes

▪ The right ventricle pumps blood to the lungs to pick up oxygen

▪ The ventricles push the blood out through the semilunar valves

▪ the left valve is called aortic valve

▪ the right valve is called the pulmonary valve

Heart Valves

Remember!
▪Valves are present to

ensure blood flows

through in one

direction!!
The Heart

▪ The walls of the atria are thin, because they only need to pump blood

into the ventricles below them

▪ The ventricles have thick walls, because they need to pump blood to

further distances

▪ The left ventricles have thicker walls than the right ventricles because

they have to pump blood to all the body. The blood is also at a higher

pressure
The Heart
The Heart
The Heart

▪ The blood vessels of the heart are

▪ The pulmonary vein - takes oxygenated blood from the lungs to the left

atrium

▪ The Aorta – carries oxygenated blood from the left ventricle to the whole

body, from head to toes

▪ Vena cava – takes deoxygenated blood from the upper and lower body to

the right atrium

▪ Pulmonary artery - takes deoxygenated blood from the right ventricle to

The Heart Beat- ‘Lub-Dub’

▪ When the chambers of the heart relax, this is called diastole

▪ When the chambers of the heart contract to push blood, this is

called systole

▪ All the chambers go through diastole at the same time

▪ Blood rushes into the left and right atria through the pulmonary

vein and vena cava respectively

The Heart Beat- ‘Lub-Dub’

https://image.shutterstock.com/image-illu
stration/diastole-systole-cardiac-cycle-26
0nw-1442461898.jpg
The Heart Beat – ‘Lub-Dub’

▪ When the atria fill

they contract and

squeeze blood into

the ventricles

▪ This is called atrial

systole, ventricles

are still in diastole

The Heart Beat – ‘Lub-Dub’

▪ The valves open to allow blood into the ventricles, then they

close

▪ A sound is made when the valves close, this is the ‘lub’

▪ once the blood moves into the ventricles, the atria relax – atrial

diastole
 The Heart Beat – ‘Lub-Dub’

▪ When full, ventricles contract and

force blood through the semi-lunar

valves into the aorta and the

pulmonary artery.

▪ This is called ventricular systole,

the atria are in diastole

▪ When the semin-lunar valves

 The Heart Beat – ‘Lub-Dub’

▪ The ventricles then go back to relaxing

▪ At this point the whole heart is going through diastole at the same time.
▪ The process then repeats
The Heart Beat – ‘Lub-Dub’

▪ The heartbeat is controlled

by group of special cells

found in the right atrium

▪ The pacemaker or sinus

node

▪ It generate electricity that is

passed on to the chamber

and cause them to contract.

The Heart Beat – ‘Lub-Dub’
Circulation through the Body

▪ Mammals have a double circulatory system

▪ This means blood flows through the heart twice in one cycle

We will begin at the right Atrium

▪ Blood comes into the right atrium, through the vena cava,
deoxygenated.
▪ The atrium fills then contracts, squeezing blood into right
ventricle
▪ The tricuspid valve closes, preventing blood from going back into
atrium
▪ The ventricle then contracts, forcing blood through the
Circulation through the Body

▪ In the lungs the blood becomes oxygenated

▪ The blood is then brought back to the heart, by the pulmonary
vein
▪ The left atrium fills with blood
▪ Once full, it contracts, pushing blood into the left ventricle
through the bicuspid valve
▪ The valve closes
▪ The ventricle then contracts, forcing blood up through the aortic
valve into the aorta
▪ The aorta branches off to bring blood to upper and lower regions
of our bodies.
Circulation through the Body

▪ Once the blood delivers food and oxygen to the body, one cycle
is complete
▪ The process starts over
▪ PLEASE NOTE!!
▪ Both sides of the heart fill with blood and pump at the same time,
but so that you are able to understand. We discuss them one at
a time.
The End