Transport Systems in Mammals

Gr 10 Life Science
 Open Blood System
• Blood is pumped from the
heart through blood
vessels and reaches
interconnected blood‐
filled spaces/sinuses 
haemocoels
• Organs lie within
haemocoels and receive
oxygen + food by diffusion
• CO2 + waste products 
diffusion into blood 
taken to heart 
excretory organs
Closed Blood System

• Heart pumps blood into

large blood vessels which
branch to form smaller
and smaller vessels
• Capillaries  oxygen and
food diffuses into tissue
fluid, carbon dioxide and
wastes diffuses into blood
• Blood returned to heart
 digestive system (food)
 lungs (get oxygen,
dump carbon dioxide) 
excretory organs (rid of
wastes)
Open and closed blood systems
Transport system in humans
 Structure of the
Heart

• Hollow organ the size of a

closed fist
• Walls are made up of very
thick muscles
• Muscles are specialised
and found only in heart 
cardiac muscles (strong, do
not get tired easily)
• Situated in middle of chest
cavity/thorax
• Pointed end of heart (apex)
turned slightly to left
• Surrounded by lungs and
protected by ribs &
sternum
 Structure of the Heart
• Heart is covered by a strong, double‐walled
sac  pericardium
• Purpose  reduce friction between the heart
and other organs it may touch
Internal Heart Structure
 The Cardiac Cycle

• The heart works by

contraction and
relaxation of the heart
muscles
• Contraction  systole
• Relaxation  diastole
• Each heart beat (cardiac
cycle) of three phases
– Atrial systole
– Ventricular systole
– General diastole
 Atrial systole

• Sino‐atrial node (SA node) in

the right atrium sends
electrical impulses to the
muscle fibres of the left +
right atria
• Two atria contract at the
same time
• Tricuspid and bicuspid valve
open
• The blood flows into the two
ventricles which are relaxed
 Ventricular
systole
• The two ventricles contract at the same
time
• The blood is forced into the aorta and
pulmonary artery
• The tricuspid and bicuspid valves close
• This prevents blood from flowing back
into the atria
 General
Diastole
• Both atria and ventricles
relax
• Semi‐lunar valves at the
base of the aorta and
pulmonary artery close 
prevents the blood from
flowing back into the
ventricles
• Blood enters the atria
through the superior and
inferior vena cavae +
pulmonary veins and then
flows into the ventricles
Cardiac Cycle
• Each cardiac cycle takes about 0,8s
• The pattern that is produced on paper when the
heart beats  electrocardiograph / ECG
• Doctors use an ECG to determine whether heart is
functioning normally or not
Lub‐Dub

• Sound is made by two

types of valves snapping
shut at different times
• First sound (lub)  when
blood is forced up against
the bicuspid and tricuspid
valves causing them to
snap shut during
ventricular systole
• Second sound (dub) 
when the semi‐lunar
valves close as blood falls
onto them during the
general diastole
 Mechanisms for
Controlling the
Cardiac Cycle and
the Pulse Rate

• SA node acts as a pacemaker

 causes the heart to beat
faster or slower
• Vigorous activity  heart
pump faster so the blood
containing oxygen and
glucose can be pumped to
the muscles more quickly
• Sleeping  less energy is
required by the muscles so
the heart beats slower
• Our bodies are able to tell
whether the heart needs to
beat faster or slower by the
amount of CO₂ in the blood.
• ↑ CO₂  heart beat faster
• ↓ CO₂  heart slow down
Mechanisms for Controlling the
Cardiac Cycle and the Pulse Rate

• Changes in the rate of heart beat are because of

– Special receptors in carotid arteries near the heart
are able to pick up whether the carbon dioxide
level is higher or lower than normal
– This message is sent by nerves to the medulla
oblongata of the brain
– When the CO₂ level is high, sympathetic nerves
from the medulla carry a message to the
pacemaker of the heart, causing it to beat faster
– When the CO₂ levels is low, parasympathetic
nerves from the medulla carry a message to the
pacemaker of the heart causing it to beat slower.
Blood Vessels
• 5L of blood in body
• Each time the heart beats about 150 mL of blood is
pumped out of it and carried to different parts of the
body by means of blood vessels
• 3 different types
– ARTERIES
– VEINS
– CAPILLARIES
• Walls of arteries and veins are made up of 3 layers:
– Outer fibrous connective tissue layer
– Middle smooth muscle layer
– Inner endothelial layer
Artery, Vein & Capillary
Artery
 Differences
Between
Arteries, Veins
and
Capillaries
 Arteries
• As the arteries go further away from
the heart they branch again and
again
• The middle muscle becomes thinner
and thinner and the lumens become
narrower  arterioles
• Arterioles branch again and again
until they form very thin vessels
called capillaries  very small so
they go between cells making up
various tissues
• Capillaries are made up of a single
layer of endothelial cells and have a
tiny lumen.
– Allows oxygen and nutrients to
diffuse from the blood into the
tissues, CO₂ and waste products
can diffuse from the tissue into
the blood capillaries
 Blood Vessels ‐
Veins
• Capillaries join to form venules  form
veins  carry blood to the heart
• Middle muscular layer of veins is much
thinner than that of arteries
– The blood within arteries is under
great pressure
– In veins the blood is no longer under
such pressure since it has lost its
pressure at the capillaries. Veins also
have a large lumen which decreases
the pressure.
• Blood in veins is under no great pressure
 2 problems
– Not enough pressure to take the
blood back to the heart
– Blood may flow back towards the
capillaries
 • Muscle movements brought about when we walk or
run causes the blood in the veins to be squeezed
towards the heart
Blood Vessels • Semi‐lunar valves are found at intervals along the
veins to prevent the blood from flowing back into
capillaries
 Direction of Blood Flow
• Closed blood system  blood never leaves the
blood vessels
• Humans  double circulation  two main routes
of blood flow
• PULMONARY CIRCULATION
– Blood flows from the heart to the lungs and
back to the heart
• SYSTEMIC CIRCULATION
– Blood flows from the heart to all parts
of the body and back to heart
 Direction of Blood
Flow

 CORONARY CIRCULATION
 From the aorta two
coronary arteries arise
 They break up into
capillaries as they pass
into the walls of the
atria and ventricles
 They carry oxygen and
food to the heart
muscles
 The capillaries re‐join
to form the coronary
veins which carry
deoxygenated blood
back to the right atrium
 Direction of Blood Flow
 PORTAL CIRCULATION
 Branches of the aorta carry
oxygenated blood to the
alimentary canal
 Arteries break into smaller
arterioles and into capillaries
which absorb digested food from
the small intestine
 Capillaries re‐join to form venules
which turn into veins
 All of the larger veins join to form
a single large vein called the
hepatic portal vein which carries
blood to the liver
 From the liver the blood is carried
away by several hepatic veins to
the inferior vena cava and then to
the right atrium of the heart.
 Blood Tissue
 Salty, sticky and reddish fluid
 pH of a little more than 7 
slightly alkaline
 Composition of blood
 Human body  5/6L of
blood
 55% is a liquid substance
called plasma
 45% is blood corpuscles
 Liquid blood plasma 90% water
and 10% dissolved substances
 Dissolved substances
 Digested food, salts, gases,
excretory wastes, plasma
proteins, hormones,
enzymes and antibodies
 Antibodies  protect the
body against disease by
fighting microbes (micro‐
organisms which cause
disease)
 Fibrinogen  plasma
protein, helps in the clotting
of blood
 Blood Tissue

 Three types of corpuscles

 Red blood corpuscles/
erythrocytes
 Disc shaped
 No nuclei
 Pigment 
haemoglobin (gives
blood red colour)
 White blood corpuscles/
leucocytes (larger)
 Irregularly shaped
 Have multi‐lobed
nuclei
 Blood platelets
 Fragments (broken
off pieces) of cells
without nuclei
Functions of Blood Tissue
 Blood plasma acts as a
transport medium for
 Digested food substances
such as glucose and amino
acids
 Excretory products such as
urea and uric acid
 Plasma proteins such as
fibrinogen (blood clotting)
 Salts
 Gases (O₂ and CO₂)
 Hormones and enzymes
 Erythrocytes
 Main function is to
transport oxygen
 The oxygen dissolves in the
haemoglobin and forms
oxyhaemoglobin before
being transported
 Functions of
Blood Tissue
 Leucocytes protect
the body
 They may
engulf the
microbes
 May form a
barrier against
the microbes
 May produce
antibodies
which destroy
the microbes
 Blood platelets
play an important
role in clotting of
blood
Functions of the Blood system

• It absorbs digested food

from the alimentary
canal and transports it
to all parts of the body
• It absorbs oxygen in the
lungs and transports it
to all parts of the body
• It transports excretory
wastes to the excretory
organs (kidneys, lungs
and sweat glands in
skin)
 The Lymphatic
System

• Arteries branch again and again

to form smaller arterioles  re‐
branch to form capillaries 
thin walled, penetrate the
tissue
• The blood in the capillaries is
under great pressure
• Some of the blood plasma
passes through the thin
capillary wall and surrounds the
cells of the tissues  tissue
fluid
• Most of the tissue fluid re‐
enters the blood capillaries
• Some tissue fluid enters lymph
capillaries and is now called
lymph
 The Main Lymph
Vessels
• The tiny lymph capillaries join to form
larger lymph vessels  these vessels
unite to form the left thoracic
duct/right lymphatic duct
• Left thoracic duct draws lymph from
intestines, legs and left side of the
body and pours into a blood vessel 
left subclavian vein (run under the
clavicle)
• Right lymphatic duct collects lymph
from the upper part of the body and
the right side and pours it into the
right sub‐clavian vein  join superior
vena cava
• In this way the lymph is returned to
the blood system
 Functions of the
Lymphatic System

• They return tissue fluid,

which may contain blood
proteins, to the blood
system
• They transport digested fats
from the villi of the small
intestine
• At the nodes (swellings) of
the lymph vessels,
antibodies and lymphocytes
are produced  protect the
body against toxins and
disease‐causing micro‐
organisms such as viruses,
bacteria, protists and fungi
 Diseases of the Heart
and Circulatory System
 Heart disease and heart attack
 Coronary arteries carry blood with food
and oxygen to the heart muscle
 Sometimes these arteries become narrow
because of fatty deposits
 Blood clots form at these fatty deposits 
coronary thrombosis
 In other cases the blood clot is formed in
another part of the blood system and
moves to the heart with the blood flow
 When it reaches the coronary arteries, it
causes a blockage / coronary embolism
 Coronary thrombosis + embolism 
coronary artery diseases  oxygen supply
to the heart muscle is reduced or shut off
altogether, the heart muscle die and the
person suffers from a heart attack
• Factors linked to heart disease
– Hereditary
• Parents suffered from heart disease it is
likely you will too
– Age
• Over 40 more likely to get heart disease
– Gender
• Males are more likely to get the disease,
female sex hormones offer some women
protection against the disease
– Smoking
• Smoking a pack a day doubles the
chances of getting heart disease
– Cholesterol
• Those who suffer from heart disease
have high levels of cholesterol
– Exercise
• Lack of exercise increases the probability
of heart disease
– Hypertension, stress, obesity and diabetes
increase the probability of heart disease
 Diseases of the
Heart and
Circulatory System
 Reduce your chances of
heart disease by not
smoking, regular
exercise, reducing stress
and eating healthy
 Drug therapy
 Angioplasty
 Stent insertion
 Open heart surgery
 Pacemaker
implantation
 Heart transplant
 By‐pass surgery
 Hypertension and Hypotension
• Arteries is under pressure
• Pressure in the blood vessels when the
heart contracts is systolic pressure
• Pressure in arteries when heart relaxes
 diastolic pressure
• Systolic ranges from 110‐150, diastolic
is about 80
• Blood pressure can range depending on
certain factors
– A er running BP ↑ , sleep BP ↓
• BP over the normal ranges for most of
the time  high blood pressure /
hypertension
• BP below the ranges  low blood
pressure / hypotension
 Hypertension and Hypotension
• Hypertension can cause serious
damage to blood vessels and
organs, including strokes
• Often refers to as the “silent
killer” because it does not give
a person any warning of the
damage it is causing
• Hypotension may cause a
person to feel weak or faint
• Sometimes the BP may become
so low that a person may go
into a coma
• Can be controlled with proper
drug treatment
 Strokes

• Occurs when there is a sudden

shortage of blood supply to the
brain
• Shortage may be caused by
– Rupture of a blood vessel in
the brain, causing bleeding
into the brain tissue
– Blockage of the blood
vessels to the brain caused
by a blood clot, air bubble
or some other practice
• The shortage of oxygen to the
brain cells may cause them to
stop functioning temporarily
• If the cells do not receive oxygen
for a long period of time they
might die
 Strokes
• Result of a stroke depends on which part of the brain
is affected, and for how long
– Shortage of blood supply to the brain for a brief
period may result in a temporary stroke 
slurred speech, weakness to the hand or foot,
blurred or double vision, symptoms disappear
within a few hours
– A small stroke  little more serious and results
in sudden, sharp headaches and blackouts,
accompanied by small dysfunction which is not
very noticeable
– More severe strokes  may result in memory
loss, loss of alertness, unsteadiness in walking,
paralysis of one or both sides of the body and
emotional disturbances
– If a stroke occurs in the part of the brain that
controls breathing (medulla oblongata)  die