CHAPTER 3—CIRCULATORY SYSTEM

What messenger makes trillions of stops in just thirty seconds? Your blood!

In just under thirty seconds, your blood moves (circulates) through your entire body. It reaches
every one of your trillions of cells.

Blood carries things to each cell that are needed. These things include oxygen and nutrients. In
exchange, the blood picks up waste from the cells, including carbon dioxide, heat and excess water.

The heart pumps blood throughout the body through a closed system of tubes. These tubes that
carry the blood are called blood vessels. There are three types of blood vessels: arteries, veins, and
capillaries

Arteries - carry blood away from the heart. This blood is rich in oxygen and nutrients. It is brought
to the cells of the body.

Veins - carry blood from the body cells back to the heart. This blood contains waste materials.

Capillaries - connect arteries and veins and are very tiny. The majority of the blood vessels in your
body are capillaries.

The circulatory system is made up the heart, blood

vessels, and blood. Circulation, or transport, is a vital
function. Life cannot go on without it.

Blood vessels are found in almost every part of the

body. If laid end to end, your blood vessels would stretch
out to about 161,000 km! (About 4 times the distance
around the equator!)

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A. The circulatory system
The circulatory system is a network consisting of blood, blood vessels, and the heart. This
network supplies tissues in the body with oxygen and other nutrients, transports
hormones, and removes unnecessary waste products. Arteries carry blood away from the
heart and veins carry blood back to the heart.

1. The heart
The heart is made of specialized cardiac muscle tissue that allows it to act as a
pump within the circulatory system.

What Are the Parts of the Heart?

The human heart is divided into four chambers — two on top and two on bottom:
 The two bottom chambers are the right ventricle and the left ventricle. These pump
blood out of the heart. A wall called the interventricular septum is between the
two ventricles.
 The two top chambers are the right atrium and the left atrium. They receive the
blood entering the heart. A wall called the interatrial septum is between the atria.

The atria are separated from the ventricles by the atrioventricular valves:
 The tricuspid valve separates the right atrium from the right ventricle.

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 The mitral valve separates the left atrium from the left ventricle.

Two valves also separate the ventricles from the large blood vessels that carry blood
leaving the heart:
 The pulmonic valve is between the right ventricle and the pulmonary artery, which
carries blood to the lungs.
 The aortic valve is between the left ventricle and the aorta, which carries blood to
the body.

The human circulatory system consists of several circuits:

 The pulmonary circuit provides blood flow between the heart and lungs.
 The systemic circuit allows blood to flow to and from the rest of the body.
 The coronary circuit strictly provides blood to the heart (not pictured in the figure
below).

Image credit: Blood flow from the heart by OpenStax, CC BY 4.0

Diagram showing the flow of blood from the heart to the rest of the human body.

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 What Does the Heart Do?
The heart is a pump, usually beating about 60 to 100 times per minute. With each
heartbeat, the heart sends blood throughout our bodies, carrying oxygen to every cell.
After delivering the oxygen, the blood returns to the heart. The heart then sends the
blood to the lungs to pick up more oxygen. This cycle repeats over and over again.

How Does the Heart Beat?

The heart gets messages from the body that tell it when to pump more or less blood
depending on a person's needs. For example, when you're sleeping, it pumps just
enough to provide for the lower amounts of oxygen needed by your body at rest. But
when you're exercising, the heart pumps faster so that your muscles get more oxygen
and can work harder.
How the heart beats is controlled by a system of electrical signals in the heart.
The sinus (or sinoatrial) node is a small area of tissue in the wall of the right atrium. It
sends out an electrical signal to start the contracting (pumping) of the heart muscle.
This node is called the pacemaker of the heart because it sets the rate of the heartbeat
and causes the rest of the heart to contract in its rhythm.
These electrical impulses make the atria contract first. Then the impulses travel
down to the atrioventricular (or AV) node, which acts as a kind of relay station. From
here, the electrical signal travels through the right and left ventricles, making them
contract.

One complete heartbeat is made up of two phases:

1. The first phase is called systole (pronounced: SISS-tuh-lee). This is when the
ventricles contract and pump blood into the aorta and pulmonary artery. During
systole, the atrioventricular valves close, creating the first sound (the lub) of a
heartbeat. When the atrioventricular valves close, it keeps the blood from going
back up into the atria. During this time, the aortic and pulmonary valves are open
to allow blood into the aorta and pulmonary artery. When the ventricles finish
contracting, the aortic and pulmonary valves close to prevent blood from flowing

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 back into the ventricles. These valves closing is what creates the second sound
(the dub) of a heartbeat.
2. The second phase is called diastole (pronounced: die-AS-tuh-lee). This is when the
atrioventricular valves open and the ventricles relax. This allows the ventricles to fill
with blood from the atria, and get ready for the next heartbeat.
How Can I Help Keep My Heart Healthy?
To help keep your heart healthy:
 Get plenty of exercise.
 Eat a nutritious diet.
 Reach and keep a healthy weight.
 If you smoke, quit.
 Go for regular medical checkups.
 Tell the doctor about any family history of heart problems.
Let the doctor know if you have any chest pain, trouble breathing, or dizzy
or fainting spells; or if you feel like your heart sometimes goes really fast or skips a
beat.

2. Blood and blood vessels

Blood from the heart is pumped throughout the body using blood vessels. Arteries
carry blood away from the heart and into capillaries, providing oxygen (and other
nutrients) to tissue and cells. Once oxygen is removed, the blood travels back to the
lungs, where it is re-oxygenated and returned by veins to the heart.

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 Image credit: Arteries and veins of the body by OpenStax, CC BY 4.0

Diagram labeling the major arteries (red) and veins (blue) in the human body
The main artery of the systemic circuit is the aorta which branches out into other
arteries, carrying blood to different parts of the body.

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Assignment 1
Look at the picture below.
It shows arteries and veins within the human body.
Each artery and vein branches out to tiny capillaries.
Write the correct term in each blank to answer
the questions or complete the sentence.
1. What pumps blood through your body?
______________
2. Blood vessels that carry blood away from the
heart are called _______________.
3. Vessels that carry blood back to the heart are
called ______________.
4. Blood moves from arteries to veins through
tiny blood vessels called ________________.
5. The heart, blood vessels and blood make up
the ______________________.

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Assignment 2
Examine the parts of Figure C, then answer the questions below.

1. Arteries branching away from the heart become ____________________________________.

(smaller and smaller OR larger and larger)
2. Veins leading back to the heart become ________________________________________. (smaller
and smaller OR larger and larger)
3. Most of our blood vessels are ______________________________. (arteries, veins or capillaries)

Match each term in Column A with its description in Column B. Write the correct
letter in the space provided.

Column A Column B
________ 1. circulation a) carry blood away from the heart
________ 2. heart b) pumps blood
________ 3. arteries c) connect arteries and veins
________ 4. veins d) transport of materials in living things
________ 5. capillaries e) carry blood back to the heart

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Assignment 2
Complete each statement using a term or terms from the list below. Write your
answers in the spaces provided. Some words may be used more than once.

Heart Circulation Oxygen Food Capillaries

Arteries Veins Blood Vessel Waste materials Blood

1. The transport of materials in living things is called __________________.

2. In humans, circulation is carried out by the liquid called ___________________.
3. Blood is pumped by the ____________________.
4. Blood brings to cells things like ____________________ and __________________.
5. Blood picks up ___________________ from the cells.
6. Any tube that carries blood is called a(n) _______________________.
7. The three kinds of blood vessels are ______________________, ____________________, and
________________________.
8. Blood is carried away from the heart by ___________________.
9. Blood is carried back to the heart by _____________________.
10. Arteries and veins are connected by tiny blood vessels called ______________________.

TRUE or FALSE – In the space, write a ‘T’ or ‘F’

_______ 1. Circulation is the transport of materials in living things.
_______ 2. Life stops when circulation stops.
_______ 3. Blood is pumped by the brain.
_______ 4. Blood circulates through the body only a few times a day.
_______ 5. Arteries carry blood away from the heart.
_______ 6. Arteries transport carbon dioxide to the cells.
_______ 7. Veins carry blood away from the heart.
_______ 8. Veins pick up waste materials from the cells.
_______ 9. Capillaries connect arteries and veins.
_______ 10. Capillaries are the largest blood vessels.

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 GLOSARY

Term Meaning
Circulatory system The body system responsible for carrying blood, nutrients, and waste
throughout the body
Cardiac Related to the heart
Pulmonary Related to the lungs
Artery Blood vessel that moves blood away from the heart
Vein Blood vessel that moves blood toward the heart
Aorta Major artery that carries blood to the systemic circulatory system
Capillary Small blood vessel that allows nutrient exchange
Atrium Upper chamber of the heart
Ventricle Lower chamber of the heart

Common mistakes and misconceptions

 Arteries usually carry oxygenated blood and veins usually carry deoxygenated
blood. This is true most of the time. However, the pulmonary arteries and veins are an
exception to this rule. Pulmonary veins carry oxygenated blood towards the heart and the
pulmonary arteries carry deoxygenated blood away from the heart.
 Blood is always red. Veins can appear blue as we see them through our skin, leading some
people to believe that deoxygenated blood is blue. However, this is not the case! Blood only
appears blue because of the way tissues absorb light and our eyes see color. Although
oxygen does have an effect on the brightness of the blood (more oxygen makes a brighter
red, less makes it darker), blood is never actually blue.

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References
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/high-school-biology/hs-human-body-systems/hs-the-
circulatory-and-respiratory-systems/a/hs-the-circulatory-system-review
https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/heart.html Larissa Hirsch, MDDate reviewed: September 2018

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