The Cardiovascular System:

Structure and Function

Organs of the Cardiovascular System

Heart
Blood vessels
– Arteries
– Veins
– Capillaries
Double circulation
Heart structure
Coronary arteries
Cardiac cycle
Atrial systole
Both atria contract and
force the blood into the
ventricles.
Bicuspid and tricuspid
valves are open,
semilunar valves are
closed.
Lasts about 0.1 seconds
Ventricular systole

Both ventricles
contract and pressure
increases.
Blood is forced to the
pulmonary vein and
aorta.
Semilunar valves
open, bicuspid and
tricuspid valves close.
Lasts about 0.3
seconds.
Cardiac diastole

Both atria and

ventricles relax.
Blood flows into the
heart from the veins.
The atrioventricular
valves (bicuspid and
tricuspid) slightly
open.
The semilunar valves
shut.
Lasts about 0.5
seconds.
http://www.passmyexams.co.uk/GCSE/biology/structure-and-function-
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Electrocardiogram (ECG)
Blood vessels
Arteries
-Arteries carry blood away from
the heart.
-Arteries carry oxygenated blood.
-Blood in the arteries is under
high pressure as it is pumped by
the heart every time it beats.

Structure:
In order for arteries to withstand
this pressure they have special
design features:
-Thick muscular walls which
contain elastic fibers that allow
the artery to stretch under
pressure.
-Narrow lumen maintains a
high pressure and ensures the
blood flows quickly to all parts of
the body.
Veins - Carry blood back to the heart.
- Carry deoxygenated blood .
- The blood returning from the body
is at a lower pressure than that
being pumped from the heart.
Therefore veins do not have to be
as strong as arteries.

Structure:
- Veins are wider than arteries
- Veins have much thinner walls.
- Since the blood pressure is low,
veins have valves which prevent
backflow of blood. These valves
only open in one direction.
- Veins are surrounded by lots of
muscle and when these muscles
contract they squeeze the veins,
further help to push the blood in the
right direction, back to the heart.
 
 Capillaries carry blood to and from
the body’s cells.
Capillaries are the site at which
Capillaries exchange of oxygen, carbon
dioxide and nutrients takes place.

Structure:
- Capillaries are very narrow.
- Capillaries have only one cell thick 
wall. This means that substances
can diffuse out of them very easily.

Fluid leaks out of the capillaries and

bathes the surrounding cells, this is
called tissue fluid.
Useful substances such as oxygen
and food diffuse out of the blood in the
capillaries into the tissue fluid where it
is then taken to the cells.
Waste products such as carbon
dioxide diffuse from the body’s cells,
into the tissue fluid and are reabsorbed
back into blood in the capillaries.
 Blood
components
The body contains
approximately 5 liters
of blood and this is a
mixture made up of: 
red blood cells 
white blood cells 
platelets 
All are suspended in a
liquid called plasma.
Red Blood Cells (Erythrocytes
(Make up 40-50% of the total blood volume; Made in the bone marrow)
Functions:
Carry oxygen from lungs to all cells of the
body
Carry carbon dioxide away from cells

Properties:
Contain oxygen carrying molecule
called hemoglobin which combines with
oxygen to give oxyhemoglobin.
Hemoglobin + Oxygen => Oxyhemoglobin
Hemoglobin is responsible for the red color of
blood
Biconcave shape providing a large surface
area to volume ratio to absorb the maximum
amount of oxygen.
Have no nucleus, therefore more surface area
to carry hemoglobin and hence oxygen
Small and flexible so can pass easily through
blood vessels
White Blood Cells (Leukocytes)
(Make up 1% of the blood volume;Function:
Made in the bone marrow)
Defend the body against infection and disease
Lypmhocytes:
Recognize virus or bacteria as being foreign and
make antibodies to attack and destroy them
Phagocytes:
Destroy virus and bacteria by engulfing them in
a process known as phagocytosis.  They take
the germ into the cell then digest and destroy
it.

Properties:
Have a large nucleus
Bigger than red blood cells
Have a flexible shape so that they can engulf
microorganisms
Platelets (Thrombocytes)
Function:
(Fragments of larger cells; Made in the bone marrow)
Help blood to clot by
clumping together and
forming a plug.  (Therefore
you do not bleed to death
if you cut yourself).

Properties:
No nucleus
Blood clotting
When an injury causes a blood
vessel wall to break, platelets
are activated.

They change shape from round

to spiny, stick to the broken
vessel wall and each other,
and begin to plug the break.

The platelets also interact with

fibrinogen, a soluble plasma
protein, to form insoluble
fibrin. Fibrin strands form a net
that entraps more platelets
and other blood cells (red cells
and white cells), producing a
clot that plugs the break.
 Immune system

The immune system assures the body's defense

against disease and foreign bodies, under the
form of antibody production, tissue rejection and
phagocytosis.
Antibody production
Lymphocytes produced
antibodies in response to the
presence of pathogens such
as bacteria. This is because
alien cells have chemicals
called antigen on their
surface. A different antibody
is produced for each antigen.

The antibodies make bacteria

clump together in
preparation for action of
phagocytes.

Once antibodies have been

made, they remain in the blood
to provide long-term protection.
Phagocytosis
Phagocytes have
the ability to
move out of
capillaries to the
site of an infection.
They then engulf
(ingest) the
infecting pathogens
and kill them by
digesting them.
Lymphatic system

Lymph and
Tissue Fluid

Tissue fluid is a fluid

surrounding the cells of
a tissue. It is leaked
plasma.
Plasma from the blood
capillaries move to the
tissue through gaps in
the walls and become
tissue fluid.
Tissue fluid play an important role in substance exchange between
blood and cells. It supplies cells with O2 and nutrients and takes
away waste products including CO2.
At the end of the capillary bed, the tissue fluid leaks back into the blood,
and becomes plasma again, but not all of it. A little of it is absorbed by the
lymphatic vessel and becomes lymph.