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Control of the Heart

LUBB-DUBB Analogy
An analogy is a tool used to help relate a concept to something more familiar. This helps us learn because we relate new ideas to previous knowledge. By actually understanding the concept, we no longer have to cram things into short-term memory for a test.

Imagine 100 students pouring out the schools main set of double doors at lunchtime. However, a cold snap has made the temperature unbearable and everyone rushes to get back into the school. Because the double doors open outwards, but only to 45 degrees, the doors are forced shut under the pressure and students are pinned against them, keeping them closed.

Additional examples: Eg. 1 Another good example of a backflow valve is the inflation valve

of a beach ball. You can inflate the ball and leave the tab open. Why
does it not deflate? It has a backflow or one-way valve. Eg. 2 A more related example is the valves found in central venous

catheters. Since these modified tubes are placed within veins, they
must possess one-way valves so that the patient does not bleed out through the catheter.

Interesting: A physician listening carefully to the heart with a stethoscope can detect if the valves are closing completely or not. Instead of a distinctive valve sound, the physician may hear a swishing sound if they are letting blood flow backward. When the swishing is heard tells the physician where the leaky valve is located. This condition

Mrpuffsbio-chem-science.weebly.com is known as a heart murmur.

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Heart Valves
In class, we used labeled and colour-coded the aortic and pulmonic valves, along with the tricuspid and mitral valves. To review, play the 30 Seconds on Heart Valves Youtube video from the class website.

Cardiac Cycle
The Cardiac Cycle is simply the alternating contraction and relaxation of the heart. The entire cycle lasts approximately one second. Systole = ventricular contraction. This lasts roughly 1/3 of the cardiac cycle. Diastole = ventricular relaxation. Diastole takes up the remaining 2 thirds of the cardiac cycle. (Diastole includes the period of time when the atria are contracting).

Control of Heartbeat
The heart is comprised (made up of) kind of muscle fiber, called cardiac muscle. This type of muscle fiber is not dependent upon external nerve stimulation. The contraction of the heart muscles of the atria and ventricles is initiated by a mass of specialized cells known as the sinoatrial node atrium, near the entrance of the superior vena cava. The SA node is

(SA node). The SA node is located in the posterior wall of the right
called the pacemaker because it produces the impulse that starts each heartbeat. When the SA node fires, the nerve impulse spreads quickly over both atria, causing the atrial muscles to contract. The impulse then reaches a second node of tissue, the atrioventricular node (AV node), located

Mrpuffsbio-chem-science.weebly.com in the septum between the ventricles but in contact with the lower portion of the right atrium. The electrical impulse is held up briefly as it passes through the AV node. From the AV node, the signal is sent down a bundle of nerve fibers, known as the Bundle of His. The Bundle of His branches into a pair of nerve fibers through the septum and circling around the base of each ventricle. The impulse started in the SA node and picked up by the AV node reaches the muscles of the ventricles and causes them to contract. The heart has special muscle fibers called Purkinje fibers that conduct impulses five times more rapidly than surrounding cells. The Purkinje fibers form a pathway for conduction of the impulse that ensures that the heart muscle cells contract in the most efficient pattern.
This series of diagrams illustrate the sequence of events involved in a heart contraction.

Your heart does not work alone, though. Your brain tracks the conditions around youclimate, stress, and your level of physical activityand adjusts your cardiovascular system to meet those needs.

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Norepinephrine = Noradrenalin is a hormone released in response to

an increase in activity. For instance, you had to walk up twelve flights of stairs, the oxygen in your blood would be used up more quickly by your working muscles. Said a different way, the increase in cellular respiration uses up oxygen more quickly and produces carbon dioxide more rapidly. Norepinephrine would be released in response to this increased carbon dioxide in your blood. Once norepinephrine reaches the SA node, it causes the node to fire more rapidly, increasing your heart rate.

Fight or Flight Response

Recall some of the stories we shared in class about a time when we were scared, angry, excited, nervous, or anxious. Many recalled a quickening of their heartrate, a cooling of their skin, perhaps even perspiring. All of these effects are related to the release of Adrenalin (aka

Epinephrine) from your adrenal glands. This hormone is also responsible

for increasing blood flow to the lungs (in anticipation of exertion) and away from other internal organs. This response is meant to prepare you to act by running away or by fighting, hence it was termed the fight or flight response.

The Electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG)

An electrocardiograph is an instrument that measures electrical activity of the heart. The resulting electrocardiogram is a useful tool for diagnosing heart abnormalities. The P wave represents the contraction impulse of the atria, while the T wave represents ventricular contraction.

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Figure 5.2.3 Electrocardiogram (Image from Purves et al., Life: The Science of Biology, 4th Edition, by Sinauer Associates (www.sinauer.com) and WH Freeman (www.whfreeman.com)) For more information on the heart, visit http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health.

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Heres an interesting aside:

Have you ever wondered why your hands sweat when youre nervous? Epinephrine causes sweating to occur in the expectation that a person will be undertaking something physically challenging (Fight or Flight). The sweat glands located on the palms of our hands and balls of the feet are more sensitive to hormones in the bloodstream and much less active in the process of thermoregulation. Therefore, our hands and feet sweat more when were nervous for no apparent benefit, and sweat very little when we actually need to cool down. Even today, this is incompletely understood.