1.

CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM
a. Vascular System: having cells arranged into tubes for transport
i. Multicellular animals and plants both have cardiovascular systems
b. Human Cardiovascular
i. A closed system where the blood is confined to vessels completely
separate from the aqueous interstitial fluid (where nutrients and
materials can pass between blood and tissues)
ii. Main organ is the heart which pumps the blood around the body
1. Has 4 chambers: left and right atria (receive blood from
veins); and left and right ventricles (pump blood into
arteries)
2. Divided in half by a wall called the septum
iii. Vessels
1. Arteries
a. Oxygenated (oxygen rich, except for the pulmonary
artery)
b. Carry blood away from the heart
c. Divide into arterioles, which divide into capillaries
2. Capillaries
a. Where exchange between blood and tissues takes
place
i. Thin layer of simple squamous epithelium
ii. Diffusion of gases, nutrients, and wastes into
and out of cells
b. Smallest and most numerous type of blood vessel
c. Capillaries join up into venules which later form veins
3. Veins
a. Deoxygenated (oxygen poor, except for the pulmonary
vein)
b. Like arteries in size
c. Transport blood towards the heart
iv. Heart
1. Cone shaped muscular organ about the size of a fist
2. Situated directly between the lungs and under the sternum
a. Perceived as on the left because of the left tilt of the
apex which is caused by the thick left ventricle wall
not being able to fit under the sternum
b. The thickness of the left ventricle wall means that it
has the strongest and most powerful contractions

3. 2 upper thin walled cavities called atria (singular: atrium)

4. 2 lower thick walled cavities called ventricles
a. Thicker walls on the ventricles mean a stronger
contraction when compared to the atria, as the
ventricles have to pump blood further than the atria
5. Atria receive blood from the venous portion of the
cardiovascular system
6. Vesicles pump blood into the arterial portion of the
cardiovascular system
7. 4 valves direct blood flow and prevent backward motion of
the blood
v. Path of blood
1. Deoxygenated blood enters the right atrium from the
superior and inferior vena cava
a. Superior vena cava is the largest vein and carries
blood from above the heart
b. Inferior vena cava is a large vein that carries blood
from below the heart
2. The right atrium contracts to push blood into the right
ventricle through the right atrioventricular valve
3. Right ventricle contracts to push the deoxygenated blood
into the pulmonary artery through the pulmonary valve
4. Blood goes through the pulmonary trunk into the lungs and
picks up oxygen turning it into oxygenated blood
5. Oxygenated blood travels through the pulmonary veins into
the left atrium of the heart
6. The left atrium contracts to push blood into the left ventricle
through the left atrioventricular valve
7. Left ventricle contracts to pump blood into the aorta through
the aortic semilunar valve
a. Called the semilunar valve because of its half-moon
shape
b. The aorta is the largest artery
8. The aorta pumps oxygenated blood to the rest of the body
(excluding the lungs)
vi. Vascular pathways
1. The cardiovascular system is always going through 2
different circuits
2. Pulmonary circuit which circulates blood to the lungs

3. Systemic circuit which circulates blood to the body through

the bright red aorta and back to the heart through the dull
red vena cavas
vii. Heartbeat
1. Human heart contracts/beats 60/80 times per minute (in an
adult heart)
2. Consists of two phases
a. Systole (contraction)
b. Diastole (relaxation)
3. Heart is in diastole half of the time
4. Each beat is roughly .85 seconds
a. Atria contract for .15 seconds while the ventricles
relax
b. Ventricles contract for .30 seconds while the atria relax
c. The entire heart relaxes for .40 seconds
5. Pulse measures heart rate because of how the arteries lift up
and down when the heart contracts and relaxes
6. Heartbeat sounds are created by the recoil of blood on closed
valves
a. Hearts can have a murmur where some blood leaks
back past the valve
viii. Capillary exchange
1. Between the ends of the capillary, oxygen and nutrients
diffuse into interstitial fluid while waste products diffuse
into the capillaries
c. Blood
i. Connective tissue with a liquid matrix of plasma
ii. 45% red blood cells, <1% white blood cells and platelets, 55%
plasma
iii. Plasma
1. Roughly 55-65% of the blood volume
2. Solution of water, nutrients, wastes, salts, and proteins
a. Salts and proteins are used as a buffer to regulate
blood pH to around 7.4
b. Proteins are also involved in blood clotting and
transport of large organic materials
iv. Blood cells
1. All made from red bone marrow, which is found in the bone
cavities at the end of long bones

a. One of two types of adult stem cells

2. Red blood cells (RBC)
a. Called erythrocytes
b. Do not undergo mitosis
c. Small disk shaped cells, 6 million RBCs in 1 mL of
blood
d. Enucleated (no nucleus), this helps it carry more
hemoglobin and oxygen
i. Short lifespan of 120 days because of
enucleation
e. Contains hemoglobin, a protein that carries 4 oxygen
molecules on its 4 iron atoms
i. One RBC can have 250 million hemoglobin
molecules
f. Can suffer from anemia, which is a condition that
occurs due to a lack of iron which results in a lack of
hemoglobin and oxygen that reaches body cells
3. White blood cells (WBC)
a. Called leukocytes
b. Larger than RBC and have a nucleus which gives
them more functionality than RBCs
c. Called white blood cells because they do not contain
hemoglobin and appear translucent without stain
d. Main function is to fight infections
i. This means that the numbers of white blood
cells increase when the body becomes infected
ii. To fight infection, they have to be able to move
through the interstitial fluid to reach infection
sites (only type of cells that can move
anywhere in the body)
iii. Can also travel in the lymphatic system as well
as blood
v. Platelets
1. Called thrombocytes
2. Are made of fragments of giant cells called megakaryocytes
in bone marrow
a. 200 billion platelets are made in a day
3. Main function is blood clotting

a. Blood clots can be dangerous, as once healed, if not

dissolved, they can block parts of the blood vessels
and cause heart attacks and strokes
d. Hemophilia
i. X-linked condition
ii. Causes blood to not be able to clot because one of the 12 clotting
factors (proteins) is not able to be made in the liver
iii. Dangerous, because hemorrhaging can cause someone to bleed out