Chapter 8: The mammalian transport system

Summary:
Large, active organisms such as mammals need a transport system, in which fluid driven by a pump carries oxygen and nutrients to all tissues, and removes waste products from them. Mammals have a double circulatory system. Blood is carried away from the heart in arteries, passes through tissues in capillaries, and is returned to the heart in veins. Blood pressure drops gradually as it passes along this system. Arteries have thick, elastic walls, to allow them to withstand high blood pressures and to smooth out the pulsed blood flow. Capillaries are only just wide enough to allow the passage of red blood cells, and have very thin walls to allow efficient and rapid transfer of materials between blood and cells. They link arteries and veins, taking blood close to almost every cell in the body. Veins have thinner walls than arteries and posses valves, to help blood at low pressure flow back to the heart. Plasma leaks from capillaries to form tissue fluid. This is collected into lymphatics and returned to the blood in the subclavian veins. Red blood cells carry oxygen in combination with haemoglobin which picks up oxygen at high partial pressures of oxygen in the lungs, and releases it at low partial pressures of oxygen in respiring tissues. It releases oxygen more easily when carbon dioxide concentration is high. Myoglobin and fetal haemoglobin have a higher affinity for oxygen than adult haemoglobin, so they can take oxygen from adult haemoglobin. Myoglobin acts as a oxygen store in muscle. Carbon dioxide is mostly carried as hydrogencarbonate ions in blood plasma, but also in combination with haemoglobin in red blood cells and dissolved as carbon dioxide molecules in blood plasma. White blood cells aid in defence against disease. At high altitudes, the partial pressure of oxygen is so low that altitude sickness can be caused which can be fatal. The body can adapt to gradual changes, however, by producing more red blood cells and haemoglobin.
Cardiovascular system is made up of the pump, the heart, and a system of interconnecting tubes, the blood vessels. The blood always remains within these vessels, so the system is known as closed blood system.
Blood enters the right atrium through vena cava, and is then pumped in the right ventricle by a heart valve and pumped out by the pulmonary artery to the lungs where the blood is oxygenated. Pulmonary veins carry oxygenated blood to the left atrium and, thorugh the heart valve, to the left ventricle. Blood is pumped out from the left ventricle and carried to the rest of the body by the aorta.

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Arteries and veins both have walls made up of three layers: 1) Inner endothelium (lining tissue) made up of a layer of thin cells 2) Tunica media (middle layer) containing smooth muscle, collagen and elastic fibres (tunica intima) 3) Tunica externa (outer layer) containing elastic fibres and collagen fibres To withstand high pressures of the blood leaving the heart, artery walls must be extremely strong. This is achieved by thickness and the composition of the artery wall. Tunica media, the thickest part, contains large amounts of elastic fibres which allow the walls to stretch as pulses of blood surge through at high pressure. The overall effect is to even out the flow of blood. Arteries branch out to arterioles which have a thicker layer of smooth muscle and are able to contract, so they help to control the volume of blood flowing into a tissue at different times. Arterioles branch out forming capillaries whose function is to take blood as close as possible to all cells, allowing rapid transfer of substances between cells and blood. They form networks known as capillary beds. Their walls are made of only one layer of endothelial cells. Capillaries gradually join forming larger vessels called venules which join to form veins whose function is to return blood to the heart. Their tunica media is much thinner because they don't need to withstand high pressures. To keep the blood flowing in the right direction at low pressure, veins have half-moon valves, or semilunar valves, formed from their endothelium. Blood plasma is the pale-yellow liquid component of blood that normally holds the blood cells in whole blood in suspension. Tissue fluid is a fluid that bathes and surrounds the cells of multicellular animals. It consists of amino acids, sugars, fatty acids, coenzymes, hormones, neurotransmitters, salts, and waste materials from cells. It functions in the interstitial transport of materials (e.g. nutrients) to the cells, intercellular communication, and removal of metabolic waste. Within our body, many processes take place to maintain the composition of tissue fluid at a constant level , to provide an optimum environment in which cells can work. These processes contribute to the overall process of homeostasis (the maintenance of a constant internal environment). Lymph is the fluid that circulates throughout the lymphatic system. The lymph is formed when the interstitial fluid is collected through lymph capillaries. A lymph node is an oval-shaped organ of the immune system, distributed widely throughout the body including the armpit and stomach and linked by lymphatic vessels If the protein concentration and rae of loss from plasma are not in balance with the concentration and rate of loss from tissue fluid, there can be a build up of tissue fluid, called oedema.
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The oxygenhemoglobin dissociation curve plots the proportion of hemoglobin in its saturated form on the vertical axis against the prevailing oxygen tension on the horizontal axis. The oxyhemoglobin dissociation curve is an important tool for understanding how our blood carries and releases oxygen. Specifically, the oxyhemoglobin dissociation curve relates oxygen saturation (sO2) and partial pressure of oxygen in the blood (pO2), and is determined by what is called "Hemoglobin affinity for oxygen"; that is, how readily hemoglobin acquires and releases oxygen molecules into the fluid that surrounds it. The presence of a high partial pressure of carbon dioxide causes haemoglobin to release oxygen. This is called the Bohr effect. Blood V = 5 dm3 m = 5 kg Nred blood cells = 2.5 X 1013 Nwhite blood cells = 5 X 1011 Nplatelets = 6 X 1012 Red blood cells (erythrocytes) Red colour caused by haemoglobin. First red blood cells are formed in the liver and then this function has been taken over by the bone marrow. They have a short life and often rupture inside the spleen. Their diameter is 7m and they are shaped like a biconcave disc. Red blood cells have no nucleus, mitochondria or ER. White blood cells (leucocytes) They are made in the bone marrow. They all have a nucleus (its shape varies) and are either spherical or irregular in shape, and they are concerned with fighting disease. Phagocytes are cells that destroy invading microorganisms by phagocytosis. They have a lobed nuclei and granular cytoplasm. Lymphocytes secrete chemicals called antibodies, which attach to and destroy the invading cells. They have a large round nuclei and small amount of cytoplasm. Platelets (thrombocytes) -are small fragments of cells without nucleus. They help the blood to clot at a wound. Plasma

Blood is composed of cells floating in a pale yellow liquid called plasma. It is mostly water with a variety of substances dissolved in it (e.g. nutrients, glucose, waste products, urea, vitamins, hormones). They also contain proteins called plasma proteins which remain in the blood all the time. Spaces between cells are filled with leaked plasma from the capillaries known as tissue fluid. It is through tissue fluid that exchanges of materials between cells and the blood occur. Overall process of homeostasis is the maintenance of a constant internal environment.

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