Unit 3.C.

The circulatory
system
Index
1. Composition of the Circulatory System
2. Blood Circulation
3. The Working of the Heart
4. Some Illnesses of the Circulatory System
1. Composition of the Circulatory System

The human circulatory system

consists of:
1.1 Blood vessels
1.2 Heart
1.3 Blood
1.1 Blood Vessels
 Caracteristics of Blood Vessels
Arteries
 have thick walls,
 no valves and
 carry blood away
from the heart
Capillaries
 link arteries to veins.
 Their wall is only one cell thick Veins
and this allows substances to • have thin walls,
pass into and out of the blood. • valves, and
• carry blood to the heart
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjNKbL_-cwA  Types of blood vessels
 1.2 Parts of the Heart
 It is a pump that pushes the blood into the arteries.
 Is made of cardiac muscle, a special kind of muscle that never
tires.
 Is divided into two sides by a wall called the septum.
It has got four chambers:  Atria: the two upper
chambers (singular:
atrium). They have thin
walls. They pump blood to
the ventricles.

 Ventricles: the two lower

chambers. They pump
blood out of the heart.
 right ventricle, with
thin wall, pumps the
blood to the lungs .
 left ventricle, with
thicker and stronger
wall, pumps the blood
to the body.
Valves Tricuspid valve and bicuspid valve or mitral valve,
between atria and ventricles.
Semilunar valves (aortic valve and pulmonary
valve) between ventricles and arteries.

Valves
prevent the
backflow of
blood.
http://vimeo.com/5588613 ==> valves working
THE HEART
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLTdgrhpDCg  Cardiac Cycle, systole and diastole
 1.3 The Blood
Every person has 4 to 5 litres of blood on average.
 55% of the blood is plasma
 45% consists of blood cells and platelets.

(leukocytes)  They defend the body from infection

 coagulation

(erythrocytes)
 Composition
of Blood

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRh_dAzXuoU  blood cells

FUNCTIONS OF THE BLOOD
 Transport of:
 Nutrients
 Waste products
 Hormones
 Oxygen and carbon dioxide

 Keeping the normal temperature

of the body

 Defence against disease

2. Blood circulation
Blood circulation in human being is double and complete

It has two circuits (general and pulmonary)

The blood in the veins never mixes

with the blood in the arteries
3. The working of the heart
The movement of blood through the heart
1. Blood from the body enters the right atrium through the vena cava.
The atria contract, the blood is pushed through the tricuspid
valve, into the right ventricle.
2. When the right ventricle contracts, the blood is pumped through the
semilunar valve into the pulmonary arteries.
3. Blood goes to the lungs.
In the lungs, the blood collects up oxygen and gets rid of its carbon
dioxide.
4. It then comes back to the heart in the pulmonary vein which enters the
left atrium.
When the atria contract, the blood is pushed through the bicuspid o
mitral valve into the left ventricle.
5. The ventricles contract and this pushes the blood through the semilunar
valve to the main artery of the body, aorta.
6. Blood is pushed out to all around the body.
The stages of heartbeat (cardiac cycle)

 Diastole: heart chambers relax.

 Systole: heart chambers contract.
Heartbeat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLTdgrhpDCg
4. Some illnesses of the circulatory system
Arteriosclerosis
Accumulation of substances (fats, calcium…) in the arteries, which causes them
to narrow and restricts the blood flow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRK7-DCDKEA  atherosclerosis
(a common form of arteriosclerosis in which fatty substances form a deposit of plaque on the inner lining ofarterial walls)
 Thrombosis
Blood clots formed in a blood vessel. It is especially dangerous in the brain
or in the heart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxY4BphpGqo  Thrombosis
Heart attack and angina
Arteries which carry blood to the cardiac cells

Angina: narrowing or partial obstruction of the coronary arteries.

Heart attack: total obstruction of the coronary arteries