Transport in Humans

The mammalian cardiovascular

system
The mammalian circulatory system is
a closed double circulation consisting
of a heart, blood vessels and blood.

Relationship between structure and

function in blood vessels
Arteries: have the thickest walls of any blood vessel. The walls are
made up of 3 layers.
An inner endothelium called tunica intima, smooth layer to
minimize friction with blood.
Middle layer called tunica media contains smooth muscle,
collagen and elastic fibers.
Outer layer called tunica externa contains elastic fibers and
collagen fibers.
Arteries have muscular walls to help pump blood through the body
Arteries have thick outer walls (of collagen and elastic fibres) to
withstand high blood pressure and avoid bursting
Arteries have a narrow lumen for faster blood flow (due to lower
friction)
Arteries lack valves since pressure is high enough to prevent
backflow

 Capillaries: Each capillary is an extremely narrow,

microscopic tube
The capillary walls are made of endothelium that is only one
cell thick
The thin walls allow materials to be exchanged between
blood and tissues
Capillary beds are found in all parts of the body, which is
why a cut to any body tissue causes bleeding
Veins: wall made of 3 layers. Tunica intima like that of artery.
Tunica media is very thin contains smooth muscle and
elastic fibers. Tunic externa is mostly collagen fibers.
Veins have thin muscular walls that can not pump blood
butallow surrounding skeletal muscles to move the blood
Veins have thinner outer walls than arteries since their lower
blood pressure is unlikely to cause bursting
The wider lumen of veins allows blood to move more slowly
Veins have valves to prevent the backflow of blood and to
keeping blood flowing to the heart.

Blood, tissue fluid and

1. position of blood isLymph
in arteries, capillaries and veins
position of tissue fluid is between cells in tissues

2. protein content of blood is high but tissue fluid is low

3.waste content of blood is low and with tissue fluid it is

low in the arterial end but high in the venous end.
Tissue fluid and lymph are the same thing but the only
difference is the location where you find lymph in lymph
vessels.
The red blood cells are too large to pass through the
capillary endothelium, so none of those are present
tissue fluid.
Water moves by osmosis from tissue fluid to blood.

Role of Hemoglobin
Hemoglobin acts as a buffer. It mops up the hydrogen ions which
are formed when carbon dioxide dissolves. It forms haemoglobinic
acid.
The presence of high partial pressure of carbon dioxide causes
hemoglobin to release oxygen. This is known as the Bohr effect.
CO2 + H2O (carbonic anhydrase enzyme) = Carbonic Acid
Carbonic Acid forms H+ ions and hydrogen carbonate ion.
This reaction occurs in plasma of red blood cell.
85% of carbon dioxide is carried in blood plasma in which the
hydrogen carbonate ions diffuse from red blood cells.
5% of carbon dioxide which does not dissolve remain in blood
plasma as carbon dioxide molecules.
10% of carbon dioxide is formed when the diffusing CO2 does not
react with water instead with -NH2(amine groups) of some of the
hemoglobin molecules to form carbaminoglobin.

Bohr Effect
Describe and Explain.
As you can see in the
graph the value of
saturation of
hemoglobin with
oxygen is greater for
low CO2 concentration
because there would
be more space for
oxygen to dissociate
with hemoglobin.

High Altitude
Describe and Explain.
The significance of the increase in the red
blood cell count at high altitudes. We know
that red blood cells carry oxygen. At high
Altitude less amount of haem will be saturated
with oxygen, so if a person has less number of
RBCs then he will have heavy breathing to get
rid of carbon dioxide. If a person becomes
adapted to high altitudes they will have much
number of RBCs compared to people living at
lower altitudes.

Describe the external and internal structure the heart.

External:
Themammalianheart is a hollow organ and is surrounded by a double
membrane, called thepericardium.
Thespace between the 2 membranes is filled with a watery fluid which
prevents friction when the heart beats.
A transverse and a longitudinalgrooveare visible on the surface of the heart.
These grooves indicate the positions of the inner walls which divide the heart
into4 chambers: 2 upper chambers (atria), and 2 larger lower chambers
(ventricles).
Thecoronary arteriesandveinsare clearly visible on the grooves.
Entering the right atrium are thesuperior vena cavaand theinferior vena
cava.
Entering the left atrium are the 4pulmonary veins.
From the upper central portion of the heart arise thepulmonary arterywith a
right and left branch and theaortawith its branches.
Internal:
Amuscular septumdivides the heart internally into a left and a right half.
Each half is subdivided into 2 chambers, the atrium (reception) and the
ventricle (pump chamber) . Internally all 4 chambers have a smooth
membranous lining, theendocardium.
The atria and ventricle on the left side of the heart contain oxygenated blood,
while those on the right side contain deoxygenated blood.
The walls of the heart are made of cardiac muscle.
The walls of the ventricles are thicker than those of the atria as they have to

Thickness of the walls of the

different chambers
The walls of the ventricles are thicker than those of
the atria as they have to produce more pressure.
The wall of the left ventricle is thicker than the wall
of the right ventricle as it has to produce enough
pressure to move blood all around the body, not
just to the lungs.
This is because the right ventricle only pumps
blood into the lungs, which are close by and
present little resistance to blood flow. On the other
hand, the left ventricle pumps blood to the rest of
the body, where the resistance to blood flow is
considerably higher.

Describe the Cardiac cycle

Heart is two pumps that work together. Both sides of the heart contract and relax
together.
Repetitive contraction (systole) and relaxation (diastole) of heart chambers.
Blood moves through circulatory system from areas of higher to lower pressure.
Contraction of the cardiac muscle causes the walls to squeeze inwards on the
blood inside the heart --> produces the pressure.
The sequence of one heart beat is called thecardiac cycle.
Duringatrial systole, the muscles in the walls of the atria contracts, pushing
more blood into the ventricles through the open atrioventricular valves.
Duringventricular systole, the muscles in the walls of the ventricles contract.
This causes the pressure of the blood inside the ventricles to become greater
than in the atria, forcing the atrioventricular valves shut. The blood is forced out
through the aorta and pulmonary artery.
Duringdiastole,the heart muscles relax. The pressure inside the ventricles
becomes less than that inside the aorta and pulmonary artery, so the blood
inside theses vessels pushes the semilunar valves shut. Blood flows into the atria
from the veins, so the cycle is ready to begin again.

Explain how heart action is initiated

and controlled.
In the wall of the right atrium, there is a patch of muscle tissue called
thesinoatrial node (SAN). This has an intrinsic rate of contraction a little
higher than that of the rest of the heart muscle.
As the cells in the SAN contract, they generate action potentials (electrical
impulses) which sweep along the muscle in the wall of the right and left
atria. This causes the muscle to contract. This isatrial systole.
When the action potentials reach theatrioventricular node (AVN)in the
septum, they are delayed briefly. They then sweep down the septum
between the ventricles, along the left and rightbundle of Histo the
respectivePurkyne fibers, and then up through the ventricle walls. This
causes the ventricles to contract slightly after the atria. The left and right
ventricles contract together, from the bottom up. This isventricular
systole.
There is then a short delay before the next wave of action potentials is
generated in the SAN. During this time, the heart muscles relax. This
isdiastole.