Circulatory system

Circulation
Living organisms constantly absorb useful substances like oxygen and food
which must then be distributed throughout their bodies. In addition, they
produce a continuous stream of waste materials, such as carbon dioxide,
which must be removed from their bodies before they accumulate to harmful
levels. The distribution of food and oxygen throughout the body and the
removal of body wastes generally takes the form of a mass flow system (when
large amount of different types of substances flow through a system).

There are two circulatory systems which rely on mass flow in animals,
namely

i) The blood vascular system and

ii) The lymphatic system

* A vascular system is one which contains fluid filled vessels involved in

transport.
 General Characteristics of a blood vascular system

Every Blood system possesses three distinct characteristics:

 A circulatory fluid, the blood
 A contractile, pumping device to propel the fluid around the body. This may
either be a modified blood vessel or a heart
 Tubes through which the fluid can circulate, the blood vessels.
In vertebrate circulatory systems, blood (fluid) is driven through arteries, veins
and capillaries (tubes) by the heart (the pump).

What is Blood?

Blood is a special type of fluid-floating connective tissue, which circulates within

blood vessels. It is an aqueous suspension of cells and cell fragments.
 Composition of Blood
 The average person has about 5.5
L of blood.
 Although blood is a liquid, it is
made up of several types of cells
which are found floating in a fluid
matrix called plasma.
 The cells make up about 45% by
volume of the blood. The other 55%
is plasma.
 Blood consists of three cells types:
i) Red blood cells or
erythrocytes
ii) White blood cells or
leukocytes
iii) Platelets
 Red Blood Cells
 Red blood cells are tiny bi-concave discs (i.e. concave on both
sides).
 They are called cells but they do not have nucleus. For this
reason, they live for only about four months, after which, they are
broken down in the spleen and the liver.
 New red blood cells are made in the bone marrow. More than
two million red cells are destroyed and replaced every second in
the human body.
 The red color of the blood is due to the presence of hemoglobin
in the red blood cells.
 White Blood Cells
 White blood cells / leukocytes are colorless and have a nucleus.
 There are two types of white blood cells:
1. Granulocytes
2. Agranulocytes
1. Granulocytes:
 They constitute about 75% of leukocytes.
 Have large lobed nuclei, are irregularly shaped.
 They have tiny granules in their cytoplasm and because of this, they are called granulocytes.
 Granulocytes are made in the bone marrow.
 Granulocytes are phagocytic. They form the body’s chief defense mechanism against disease-causing
bacteria. They gather in wounds and destroy bacteria before they can enter the body.

2. Agranulocytes:
 The remaining 25% of leukocytes are Agranulocytes.
 They are round in shape, have very large round nuclei.
 They have a thin layer of cytoplasm without granules.
 Agranulocytes are made in the lymphatic system.
 Agranulocytes are not phagocytic. The function of Agranulocytes is to produce antibodies which help
prevent disease.
 Platelets

 They are irregularly shaped and very small.

The originate in the bone marrow. They have no
nucleus.
 Function:
1. Play an important role in blood clotting in wounds.
2. Release a chemical called serotonin which
causes blood vessels to constrict, so reducing
bleeding.
 Plasma

 Plasma is a pale straw colored

liquid.

 It consists of 90% water and 10%

of a variety of dissolved substances
including the products of digestion,
such as glucose, fatty acids, glycerol,
amino acids, vitamins and minerals;
antibodies, hormones and waste
materials such as urea and carbon
dioxide.
 Circulation of blood in mammals

The circulatory system of mammals consists of the heart, which pumps

blood into vessels called arteries, which divide inside body tissues and
organs into extremely fine vessels called capillaries which in turn empty
into veins that carry blood back to the heart.
Mammals have double circulatory system. Their blood circulates
through two systems:
i) The pulmonary circulation
The pulmonary circulation conveys blood to and from the lungs.
ii) The systemic circulation
The systemic circulation conveys blood to and from all other
parts of the body.
These two systems are connected at the heart.
 Circulation of blood in mammals
 In mammals, the heart consists
of four chambers. There are two
chambers on each side of the heart Fig

and these are completely

separated by a central wall. The
uppermost chambers on each side
of the heart are called Atria
(singular: atrium). Below each
atrium is a thick-walled chamber
called a ventricle. A system of
valves on each side of the heart
permits blood to flow from the atria
into the ventricles but not in the
reverse direction.
 Circulation of blood in mammals

 The double circulation of blood starts from where it enters the right
atrium. This blood has come from the systemic circulation: that is, from all
the organs except the lungs.
 On its journey, blood has lost its supplies of oxygen and so it is called
deoxygenated blood. The deoxygenated blood flows into the right atrium
until it is full.
 Then the muscles in the atrium walls contract forcing blood into the
right ventricle which is relaxed at this stage.
 When it is full, the right ventricle contracts, forcing blood into the
pulmonary artery. Blood is prevented from flowing back into the right
atrium by the tricaspid valve (so called because it consists of three valve
flaps).
 Blood is prevented from flowing back into the right ventricle by semi-
lunar valves located at the point where the pulmonary artery leaves the
heart.
 Circulation of blood in mammals
 Blood flows through the pulmonary artery to capillaries in the lungs where it
absorbs more oxygen and after this, it is called oxygenated blood.

 This oxygenated blood returns from the lungs through the pulmonary vein,
which empties into the left atrium.

 When full, the left atrium contracts forcing blood into the left ventricle and
then the left ventricle contracts forcing blood in the main artery of the body,
which is called the aorta.

 Blood is prevented from flowing back into the left atrium by the bicaspid
valve, which has two valve flaps and it is prevented from flowing back from
the aorta into the ventricle by another set of semilunar valves.

 The left ventricle has thicker muscular walls than the right ventricle.
This gives the left ventricle the extra muscular power necessary to pump
oxygenated blood all around the systemic circulation.

 When deoxygenated blood returns via the main veins to the right atrium,
the double circuit has been completed.
 Circulation of blood in mammals

Fig:
Circulation of blood in mammals

Diagram of main arteries and veins in a mammal

 Blood vessels
As blood circulates round the body, it passes through a series of arteries,
capillaries and veins.

Artery

 The wall of arteries are thick

and the middle layer is mainly
composed of elastic fibers. This
enables them to increase in
diameter but not rupture when the
heart contracts and forces blood
into them at high pressure.
 Arteries carry blood away from
the heart towards other organs of
the body.
 Arteries divide to form smaller
vessels called arterioles.
Arterioles divide many times to
form a dense network of
capillaries.
Artery: The wall consists of three layers
 Capillaries

The smallest blood vessels in the

body.
 They form a vast network of vessels
penetrating all parts of the body.
 They are permeable to water and
nutrients.
 Exchange of materials between the
blood and the body cells take place
through the capillaries.
 Capillaries unite to form wider
vessels called venules and these
eventually unite to form veins.

Capillary: The wall consists of a

single layer of cells, which is
equivalent to the endothelium in
arteries and veins
Arteries
Arterioles

Capillaries

Venules

veins
 Veins

 A vein possesses less muscle and

elastic fibers in its middle layer than
an artery and the diameter of its
lumen is greater.

 Semi-lunar valves are present,

which are formed from folds of the
inner walls of the vein.

 They function to prevent backflow Endothelium

of blood. A number of veins are

located between the large muscles of
the body (as in arms and legs).

Vein: The two outer layers of the wall

are thinner than those in arteries
 Tissue Fluid
 The circulatory system keeps all
cells bathed in tissue fluid. When tissue
fluid is being forced out of the
capillaries, the capillary walls act as a
filter holding red blood cells, most of
the white cells and large protein
molecules.
 The following substances which
pass through the capillary walls make
up the tissue fluid: water with dissolved
oxygen, glucose, fatty acids, glycerol,
amino acids, vitamins, minerals and
hormones.
 Tissue fluid flows away from the
capillaries and passes among the body
cells, which extract oxygen and food
from it and at the same time, release
carbon dioxide and other waste
materials into it.

Fig: A capillary bed

The lymphatic system

Formation of lymph from interstitial fluid

(labeled here as "Tissue fluid"). Note:
how the tissue fluid is entering the blind
ends of lymph capillaries (shown as deep
green arrows)

The Lymphatic System

 The lymphatic system

 The lymphatic system is part of the immune system and

also part of the circulatory system.
 It returns to the heart, the small amount of tissue fluid that
cannot be returned by the veins.
 Lymphatic flow begins in the areas near blood capillaries.
 The walls of these vessels are more permeable than blood
capillaries to lipids and large molecules such as proteins.
 Lymph contains no red blood cells, so is pale and clear.
 The functions of blood
 Transport materials
Blood transports food and oxygen to respiring tissues. It also takes carbon
dioxide and waste products away from respiring cells to the various organs that
remove them. It carries hormones from endocrine glands to target organs.
 Distributes heat
The blood helps to maintain a constant body temperature by distributing heat
from metabolically active organs such as the liver and working muscles, to the rest of
the body.
 Provides pressure
Many organs of the body depend on the physical pressure of the blood to
carry out their function. For example, filtration of the kidney, formation of tissue fluid
etc. all depend on blood pressure.
 Acts as a buffer
The blood contains many proteins and ions that act as buffers, keeping the
pH constant by ‘mopping up’ any excess acid or alkali. Hemoglobin in red blood cells
is an important buffer.
 Defends body against infection