The Cardiac Cycle

The human heart will undergo over 3 billion contraction cycles, as shown in Figure 5, during a normal lifetime. The heart beats in a rhythmic cycle. A complete cardiac cycle is one round of the heart pumping blood. The top half of the heart works as one unit. The bottom half of the heart works as one unit. The sino-atrial node (pacemaker) starts and regulates the process. The cardiac cycle consists of two parts: systole (contraction of the heart muscle) and diastole (relaxation of the heart muscle). Atrial systole (0.1s)

Atria contract simultaneously, pushing blood into the ventricles Ventricles are relaxed Atrio ventricular valves open Semi lunar valves close

Ventricular systole (0.3s)

Atria relax Ventricles contract simultaneously Blood enters aorta and pulmonary artery Semi lunar valves open Atrio ventricular valves close

Diastole (0.4s)

Atria and ventricles relax Atrio ventricular valves open Blood enters atria and ventricles Semi lunar valves close Back flow in arteries prevented

The heart beat can be heard as a sound that the valves make when they close. The lub sound is made when the atrio ventricular valves close and the dub sound is made when the semi lunar valves close.

Blood Pressure

The blood pressure is produced by the left ventricle contractions. The rhythm of ventricle diastole, often just referred to as diastole, causes the pulse, which can be felt by holding two
finders to the side of the throat.

Blood pressure oscillates with the contraction of the left ventricle.

Ideal blood pressure for an adult is: Systolic pressure: 120 mm HG Diastolic blood pressure: 80 mm HG A usual rule is that systolic pressure should be 100 plus your age but never more than 140 and diastolic pressure should not be over 90.

Figure 6 The cardiac cycle.

Figure 9

Mechanisms for controlling cardiac cycle and heart rate (pulse)

The cardiac cycle is controlled by nerve fibers extending from nodes of nerve bundles through the heart muscle. An electrical signal is triggered in the node. The electrical signal then spreads through the fibers and causes the heart muscle to contract.

There are two nodes:

1. The sinoatrial node (SA), which initiates the heart cycle. Electrical signals spread from the SA across the atria causing it to contact. 2. The electrical signal also reaches the Atrioventricular node (AV) . Here the signal pauses, before spreading through the ventricles causing them to contract.

The SA is able to initiate the electrical signal without any stimulation for the nervous system, but it can be controlled by the nervous system. The brain does not need to tell the heart to beat; it is able to beat on its own. The brain can make the heart rate increase, when for instance you are scared or are running. Hormones are also able to increase the heart rate.

How the Nodes cause contraction

Human heartbeats originate from the sinoatrial node (SA node) near the right atrium. Modified muscle cells contract, sending a signal to other muscle cells in the heart to contract. The signal spreads to the atrioventricular node (AV node). Signals carried from the AV node, slightly delayed, through bundle of His fibers and Purkinjie fibers cause the ventricles to contract simultaneously. Figure 13 illustrates several aspects of this.

Electrical activity

The electrical activity in the heart is so strong that is can be measured from the surface of the body as an electrocardiaogram (ECG). A normal heart has a very regular rhythm. An abnormal heart may have an arrhythmia, or abnormal rhythm as shown in the figures.

Figure 15 TABLE 4