TheCirculatory
System
The Circulatory System is responsible
for transporting materials throughout
the entire body.
It transports nutrients, water, and
oxygen to your billions of body cells
and carries away wastes such as
carbon dioxide that body cells
produce.
It is an amazing highway that travels
through your entire body connecting
all your body cells.
Components
Heart
Blood
Blood
Vessels
Heart
🞑 Arteries
🞑 Veins
Capillaries
Veins Arteries
Which gases are transported to and from the body’s
cells by the blood flowing in the circulatory system?
carbon
dioxide
oxygen
Oxygen is the gas needed for respiration and is
transported to the body’s cells.
The circulatory system carries two types of blood
Oxygen-rich Oxygen-poor
blood blood
Blood travelling Blood travelling
to the body cells away from the body cells
High oxygen content Low oxygen content
Low carbon dioxide content High carbon dioxide content
Arrangement of the circulatory system means that these
two types of blood do not mix.
The heart is the organ at the centre of the circulatory
system. It pumps blood around the body.
The inside of the heart is divided into two sections so
that the two types of blood (oxygen-rich and oxygen-
poor) are kept apart
Right side Left side
of the heart of the heart
Oxygen-poor Oxygen-rich
blood blood
Heart coverings
🞑 Pericardium
Coversthe heart and large blood vessels attached to
the heart
Visceral pericardium
Innermost layer
Directly on the heart
Parietal pericardium
Layer on top of the visceral pericardium
Pericardium
🞑 Protective sac of
connective tissue
🞑 Surrounds the
heart
🞑 Filled with fluid
Myocardium
🞑 The muscle of the
heart
🞑 Strong and thick
🞑 Composed of
spontaneously contracting
cardiac muscle fibers
🞑 Can conduct electricity
like nerves.
🞑 It’s blood supply comes
from the coronary arteries.
The right and left sides of the heart are separated by a
septum, or wall.
The septum prevents the mixing of oxygen rich and
oxygen poor blood.
On each side of the septum are two chambers.
The upper chamber (receives blood) is the atrium.
The lower chamber (pumps blood out of heart) is the
ventricle.
Four chambers
🞑 Two Atria 🞑 Two Ventricles
Upper chambers Lower chambers
Left and right Left and right
Separated by interatrial Separated by interventricular
septum septum
Right Atrium Left Atrium
Right Ventricle Left Ventricle
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The chambers of the heart have different functions:
blood to blood to
the lungs the body
blood from blood from
the body the lungs
The ventricles
The Atria
pump blood
collect blood
out of the
that enters the
heart.
heart.
© iTutor. 2000-2013. All Rights Reserved
The valves between the atria and ventricles are connected
to the inner walls of the heart by tough tendons.
valve open
The tendons allow the valves to close and hold the valve
flaps in place. They prevent the valves from flipping up
and turning inside out
valve closed
A valve acts like a door that only opens in one direction.
If the door is held by someone at a fixed point, only the arm
moves as the door opens and closes.
When the door is closed the arm is fully extended, so the
door can only be opened in one direction.
A valve acts like a door that only opens in one direction.
In the heart, the tendons holding the valve are like the
arm holding the door.
One end of each tendon is fixed to the wall of the heart
and so the valve can only open in one direction.
The heart can pump blood because it is made of muscle.
Muscle tissue works by contracting (squeezing) and
relaxing.
All the parts of the heart on
either side, work together in a
repeated sequence.
The two atria contract and
relax; then the two ventricles
contract and relax.
This is how blood moves
through the heart and is
pumped to the lungs and the
body.
One complete sequence of
contraction and relaxation is
called a heartbeat.
As blood moves through the
circulatory system it moves
through 3 types of blood
vessels:
🞑 Arteries: Carry blood
away from the heart .
🞑 Capillaries: Link arterioles
to veins.
🞑 Veins: Carry blood
towards the heart
Arteries
Large vessels
Carry blood from heart to tissues of body.
Carry oxygen rich blood, with the exception of pulmonary
arteries.
Thick walls-need to withstand pressure produced when heart
pushes blood into them.
Capillaries
Smallest blood vessels
Walls are only one cell thick and very narrow.
Important for bringing nutrients and oxygen to tissues
and absorbing CO2 and other waste products.
Once blood has passed through the capillary systems it
must be returned to the heart. Done by veins
Walls contains connective tissue and smooth muscle.
Largest veins contain one way valves that keep blood
flowing toward heart.
Many found near skeletal muscles. When muscles
contract, blood is forced through veins.
The heart produces pressure
The force of blood on the wall of the arteries is
known as blood pressure.
Blood pressure decreases as the heart relaxes,
but the rest of the circulatory system is still
under pressure.
When blood pressure is taken, the cuff is wrapped
around the upper portion of the arm and pumped with
air until blood flow in the artery is blocked.
As the pressure in the cuff is relaxed, 2 numbers are
recorded.
🞑 Systolic pressure- the first number taken, is the force felt in
the arteries when the ventricles contract.
🞑 Diastolic pressure- the second number taken, is the force of
the blood on the arteries when the ventricles relax.
Blood
What percent of your body is blood? 8%
How much blood do we contain?
🞑 On average 4-6 liters
🞑 We contain about a pint
of blood for every 15
pounds of body weight
Composition of Blood:
🞑 What percent of your blood is
cellular? 45%
🞑 What percent of your blood
is plasma? 55%
Blood
Composed of plasma and blood cells
Types of Cells are:
🞑 Red Blood Cells
🞑 White Blood Cells
🞑 Platelets
Plasma
🞑 Straw colored
🞑 90% water
🞑 10% dissolved gases, salts, nutrients,
enzymes, hormones, wastes, and proteins.
Blood
Plasma proteins
🞑 3 Types: Albumins, globulins and fibrinogen.
🞑 Albumins and Globulins- transport substances such as
fatty acids, hormones and vitamins.
🞑 Fibrinogen- Responsible for blood’s ability to clot
Blood
Red Blood Cells/Erythrocytes
🞑 Most numerous type
🞑 Transport oxygen
🞑 Get color from hemoglobin
🞑 Disk shaped
🞑 Made in red bone marrow
🞑 Circulate for 120 days
Hemoglobin (Hb) is the protein contained in red blood cells that is
responsible for delivery of oxygen to the tissues. To ensure adequate
tissue oxygenation, a sufficient hemoglobin level must be
maintained.
Blood
White Blood Cells / Leokocytes
🞑 Guard against infection, fight parasites, and attack bacteria
🞑 Number of WBC’s increases when body is fighting
Blood
Platelets/Thrombocytes
🞑 Aid the body in clotting
🞑 Small fragments
🞑 Stick to edges of
broken blood cell and
secrete clotting factor to
help form clot.
Blood
Red Blood
Cells
Blood has 3 main
Functions
White Blood
Cells 🞑 Transport
Plasma
🞑 Protection
🞑 Temperature
Platelets Regulation
