Cardiovascular

System

Unit 3 slide 1
 Cardiovascular System
• Heart
• Blood vessels
– Arteries
– Capillaries
– Veins

Unit 3 slide 2
 Closed Circuit
• Two capillary beds where gas exchange
occurs
– Lungs: O2 in, CO2 out
– Tissues: O2 out, CO2 in
• Really two pumps
– Right heart = pulmonary circuit pump
– Left heart = systemic circuit pump

Unit 3 slide 3
Unit 3 slide 4
 Closed Circuit
• Where is the hydrostatic pressure high?
• Where is the pressure low?

• Where is the partial pressure of oxygen

high?
• Where is there less oxygen?

Unit 3 slide 5
Unit 3 slide 6
 Pericardium
• Visceral pericardium: layer next to
cardiac muscle
• Parietal pericardium: layer around the
outside
• Pericardial cavity: between the visceral
and parietal layers
– contains 10 to 20 mL of lubricating fluid

Unit 3 slide 7
 Visceral Pericardium
• Also called the epicardium
• Composed of a simple squamous
epithelium (a serous membrane that
produces pericardial fluid) and a thin
layer of areolar connective tissue

Unit 3 slide 8
 Parietal Pericardium
• Fibrous pericardium outside, composed
of dense irregular CT (pericardial sac)
• Serous pericardium inside (produces
pericardial fluid), a simple squamous
epithelium plus a layer of areolar tissue

Unit 3 slide 9
 Heart: External Anatomy
• Atria: upper chambers (have
expandable flaps called auricles)
• Ventricles: lower chambers
• Coronary sulcus: groove separating
atria from ventricles
• Interventricular sulcus: separates left
and right ventricles

Unit 3 slide 10
Unit 3 slide 11
Unit 3 slide 12
 Heart Wall
• Epicardium (visceral pericardium)
• Myocardium: cardiac muscle tissue
– Thin in L and R atria
– Medium thickness in R ventricle
– Thickest in L ventricle
• Endocardium: simple squamous
epithelium plus areolar CT
– Folds in endocardium form cardiac valves

Unit 3 slide 13
Unit 3 slide 14
 Chambers
• Four chambers
– Right atrium
– Right ventricle
– Left atrium
– Left ventricle

Unit 3 slide 15
 Atria
• Relatively thin myocardium, ridges
called pectinate muscles
• L and R atria separated by
interatrial septum
• Atrial myocardium forms a single
functional unit called the
atrial syncytium (depolarization spreads
throughout all myocardial cells)
Unit 3 slide 16
 Ventricles
• Trabeculae carneae: muscular ridges
found on inner surface of ventricles
(helps ensure mixing of blood?)
• Left ventricle: inverted cone shape
• Right ventricle: shaped like a pouch
• Ventricular syncytium, interventricular
septum

Unit 3 slide 17
 Heart Valves
• 4 valves, located in fibrous skeleton
between atria and ventricles
• 2 atrioventricular valves (AV valves)
– Right AV valve = tricuspid valve
– Left AV valve = bicuspid v. = mitral v.
• 2 semilunar valves
– Pulmonary semilunar valve
– Aortic semilunar valve

Unit 3 slide 18
Unit 3 slide 19
 AV Valves
• Atrioventricular valves, prevent blood
flowing back into atria during ventricular
contraction
• Tricuspid valve = right AV valve
• Bicuspid valve = mitral valve = left AV
valve

Unit 3 slide 20
 AV Valves
• Attached to edges of AV valves are
chordae tendineae (dense regular CT)
• Papillary muscles pull on chordae
tendineae during ventricular contraction
to hold valve closed against the high
pressure in the ventricles

Unit 3 slide 21
 Semilunar Valves
• Between ventricles and the large blood
vessels that leave the ventricles
(pulmonary trunk, aorta)
• 3 flaps each, no chordae tendineae or
papillary muscles needed

Unit 3 slide 22
 Aortic valve sounds heard
in 2nd intercostal space at
right sternal margin

Pulmonary valve
sounds heard in 2nd
intercostal space at left
sternal margin

Mitral valve sounds

heard over heart apex
(in 5th intercostal space)
in line with middle of
clavicle

Tricuspid valve sounds typically

heard in right sternal margin of
5th intercostal space
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Figure 18.19
Unit 3 slide 24
Unit 3 slide 25
 Direction of Blood Flow
• Blood enters the right atrium from
– Superior and inferior vena cavae
– Coronary sinus
• To right ventricle through tricuspid valve
• Through pulmonary semilunar valve into
pulmonary trunk and on to the lungs

Unit 3 slide 26
 Direction of Blood Flow
• From lungs, blood enters left atrium
through pulmonary veins
• Through bicuspid valve to left ventricle
• Though aortic semilunar valve into aorta
• Aorta branches into arteries supplying
systemic circuit

Unit 3 slide 27
Unit 3 slide 28
Blood Supply to the Heart
• Left and right coronary arteries originate
at base of aorta, behind 2 of the 3 flaps
of the aortic semilunar valve
• Blood returns through great cardiac
vein, which empties through coronary
sinus into right atrium

Unit 3 slide 29
Unit 3 slide 30
Unit 3 slide 31
 Cardiac Muscle Function
• Adjacent cardiac muscle cells
connected by intercalated discs
• Forms atrial and ventricular syncytia,
action potential spreads throughout
myocardium so atria contract as a
single unit, ventricles contract as a
single unit (a fraction of a second later)

Unit 3 slide 32
Unit 3 slide 33
Cardiac Muscle Function
• Myogenic: cardiac muscle cells can
contract without direct stimulation
from CNS
• Neurogenic: autonomic nervous system
can change heart rate

Unit 3 slide 34
 Cardiac Muscle Function
• Action potential
– Rapid depolarization (fast Na+ channels)
– Plateau phase (slow Ca+2 channels)*
– Repolarization (slow K+ channels)

*plateau phase makes action potential in

cardiac muscle much longer (~300 msec)
than action potential in skeletal muscle
(~100 msec)
Unit 3 slide 35
Unit 3 slide 36
Unit 3 slide 37
 Conducting System
• Composed of specialized cardiac muscle
cells that carry electrical impulses but do not
contract
– Sinoatrial node (SA node)
– Internodal pathways
– Atrioventricular node (AV node)
– Atrioventricular bundle (AV bundle,
bundle of His)
– Bundle branches, Purkinje fibers

Unit 3 slide 38
Unit 3 slide 39
 Conducting System
• Slow sodium leak (prepotential or pacemaker
potential) causes cells to gradually depolarize
until reaching threshold
• First cell to reach threshold is usually in the
SA node (posterior wall of R atrium)
• Delay at AV node ensures atria finish
contraction before ventricles begin
contraction

Unit 3 slide 40
 Superior vena cava
Right atrium
1 The sinoatrial (SA)
node (pacemaker)
generates impulses.

Internodal pathway
2 The impulses Left atrium
pause (0.1 s) at the
atrioventricular
(AV) node.
3 The atrioventricular Purkinje
(AV) bundle
fibers
connects the atria
to the ventricles.
4 The bundle branches
conduct the impulses Inter-
through the
interventricular septum.
ventricular
5 The Purkinje fibers
septum
depolarize the contractile
cells of both ventricles.
(a) Anatomy of the intrinsic conduction system showing the
sequence of electrical excitation

Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Figure 18.14a

 Cardiac Cycle
• From the end of one heart contraction to
the end of the next contraction
• Systole = contraction
• Diastole = relaxation
• First 100 msec: atrial systole
• 100 to 375 msec: ventricular systole
• 375 to 800 msec: both in diastole

Unit 3 slide 42
Unit 3 slide 43
 Heart Sounds
• “Lubb dup” sound represents heart
valves closing
• 1st heart sound (lubb) = AV valves
closing during ventricular contraction
• 2nd heart sound (dup) = semilunar
valves closing

Unit 3 slide 44
 Heart Murmurs
• Turbulent blood flow through damaged
valves leads to a blowing or vibrating
sound
• Valvular insufficiency: valves not
closing completely
• Valvular prolapse: flaps go past closed
• Valvular stenosis: valves too narrow

Unit 3 slide 45
 Cardiac Output
• The most important single factor in
cardiovascular physiology is the
question, “How much blood does the
heart pump?”

• SV = EDV - ESV
• CO = HR x SV

Unit 3 slide 46
 Cardiac Output
• Example:

HR = 70 bpm
EDV = 130 mL
ESV = 50 mL

 130 mL  50 mL  
70 70 mL
CO   (80 mL )  5600
min min min

Unit 3 slide 47
 Regulation of CO
• Heart rate
– Cardioacceleratory (CA) center and
cardioinhibitory (CI) center (both in medulla
oblongata)
– Atrial reflex (Bainbridge reflex): right atrium
stretching signals CA center to increase heart rate
– Aortic reflex: stretching of aorta signals
CI center to decrease heart rate
– Carotid sinus reflex: similar to aortic reflex
– Drugs, hormones, temperature, age, etc.

Unit 3 slide 48
 Regulation of CO
• End diastolic volume
– Filling time: how long the ventricle is able
to fill with blood before next contraction
– Venous return: how much blood per
minute is returning through the right atrium

Unit 3 slide 49
 Regulation of CO
• End systolic volume
– Preload: how stretched are the cardiac
muscle fibers in the ventricle at the end
of diastole
– Contractility: how much force can be
produced during contraction
– Afterload: how hard is it to open the
semilunar valve

Unit 3 slide 50
 Exercise (by Heart rate Bloodborne Exercise,
skeletal muscle and (allows more epinephrine, fright, anxiety
respiratory pumps; time for thyroxine,
see Chapter 19) ventricular excess Ca2+
filling)

Venous Sympathetic Parasympathetic

Contractility
return activity activity

EDV
ESV
(preload)

Stroke Heart
volume rate

Cardiac
output

Initial stimulus
Physiological response
Result

Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Figure 18.22

 Chemical Regulation of Heart Rate

1. Hormones
• Epinephrine from adrenal medulla enhances
heart rate and contractility
• Thyroxine increases heart rate and enhances
the effects of norepinephrine and
epinephrine
2. Intra- and extracellular ion concentrations
(e.g., Ca2+ and K+) must be maintained for
normal heart function

Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Other Factors that Influence Heart Rate

• Age
• Gender
• Exercise
• Body temperature

Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc.

 The vagus nerve Dorsal motor nucleus of vagus
(parasympathetic) Cardioinhibitory center
decreases heart rate.

Medulla oblongata
Cardio-
acceleratory Sympathetic trunk ganglion
center
Thoracic spinal cord
Sympathetic trunk
Sympathetic cardiac
nerves increase heart rate
and force of contraction.

AV node
SA node
Parasympathetic fibers
Sympathetic fibers
Interneurons
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Figure 18.15
Blood vessels
Anatomy of a capillary bed