Circulatory system – JMSS

Your circulatory system is made up of three parts: the heart, blood vessels and the
blood itself.

Your heart keeps all the blood in your circulatory system flowing. The blood travels through a
network of blood vessels to everywhere in your body. It carries useful materials like oxygen,
water and nutrients and removes waste products like carbon dioxide.

The digestive system supplies nutrients to the body

The respiratory system supplies oxygen to the body.

The nutrients and oxygen need to get to the cells via the circulatory system.

Circulation
Circulatory System:

 It carries nutrients and oxygen to cells so respiration can happen.

 It removes CO2 from cells and takes it to the lungs where it is exhaled.
 It transports other waste products to where they are disposed.
 It distributes heat (a by-product of respiration) around the body.

The circulatory System comprises double systems; 2 separate circuits through which
blood flows.

In 1 circuit blood flows from the heart to the body and back to the heart. Nutrients and
oxygen are delivered to cells and carbon dioxide and waste is taken away from the cells.

In the 2nd circuit blood flows to the lungs and back again. In the lungs, the blood that arrives
is deoxygenated (has little oxygen but lots of carbon dioxide and waste). This is replaced
with oxygen in the lungs i.e. oxygenated.

The circulatory system comprises

 The heart (engine room)

 The blood vessels (motorways, main roads and side streets)
 Blood

The heart has a cardiac muscle.

A heartbeat comprises 3 phases:
1) Two atria contract, pushing blood down to the ventricles
2) Ventricles contract forcing the blood out of the heart to the body and lungs
3) The heart muscle relaxes and the atria filled with blood ……

The heart collects oxygenated blood and pumps it around the body.

Your heart plays and important part in being healthy. It keeps all the blood in your
circulatory system flowing. Blood helps oxygen get around your body. When you
exercise you can feel your pulse, it tells you how fast your heart is pumping.

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Avoiding cigarettes and alcohol, eating right and exercising help your health and
fitness.

Your heart is a very strong muscle that pumps blood around your body continuously and
does not get tired (in response to pacemaker signals).

It is made of four chambers, two upper chambers and two lower chambers. Blood enters the
upper chambers. These squeeze and push the blood into the lower chambers, which then
squeeze and push the blood out of your heart.

1. Your heart first pumps blood to your lungs. Here, the blood picks up oxygen from the air
that you have breathed in.
2. The blood (carrying oxygen) then travels back to your heart.
3. The heart gives the blood a second push. This time, it's sent to all the other parts of your
body, including the brain, all the other organs and all the muscles. The blood delivers
oxygen to them all.
4. The blood travels back to the heart, and it all begins again.

The tubes that carry blood away from your heart are called arteries. The tubes that carry
blood back to your heart are called veins.

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Your pulse:
Your pulse is a measure of how fast your heart is beating. It is the number of beats your heart makes
in one minute. Your heart beats faster or slower depending on what you are doing.

You can feel your pulse at certain points on your body. The easiest place to feel it is in your wrist,
using the first two fingers of your other hand.

When you sit, the average heart beats about 80 times per minute. However, everybody is different,
so your pulse could be higher or lower than this.

When you exercise, your heart beats more quickly. This is because your muscles are working harder
and need more oxygen to keep going. Your lungs also work harder, making you breathe more quickly
to get more oxygen.

When you sleep, your muscles need less oxygen, so your heart slows down.

The pulse indicates the expansion and contraction of the arteries (use the neck or wrist to measure it).

Heart Disease
Inner walls of healthy arteries are normally smooth and blood flows easily. Blood flow can be reduced
by a buildup of plaque. Blood carries oxygen which is also reduced when plaque is present leading to
angina. The severe chest pain may lead to heart attack if the arteries are completely blocked.

The plaque comprises cholesterol, fibrin (part of blood clot material) and calcium. Inflammation
results when an artery is damaged and cholesterol moves to the inflamed area to protect it. Other
scientists believe that too much fat in the diet leads to a build-up of cholesterol in the blood which in
turn leads to a build-up of plaque.

Cardiovascular System
The cardiovascular system, also known as the circulatory system, is responsible for keeping the
blood moving around the body. It consists of two primary circuits: the pulmonary circuit and the
systemic circuit.

The Pulmonary Circuit

The pulmonary circuit transports deoxygenated blood from the right side of the heart to the lungs. In
the lungs the blood picks up oxygen and returns to the left side of the heart. The chambers of the
heart that pump blood through to the pulmonary circuit are the right atrium and right ventricle.

The Systemic Circuit

The systemic circuit transports oxygenated blood from the left side of the heart to the rest of the
body. The chambers of the heart that pump blood through to the systemic circuit are the left atrium
and left ventricle.

Blood is pumped out of the left ventricle via the aorta, the largest artery in the body. All other arteries
branch off the aorta, carrying oxygenated blood to all parts of the body. Deoxygenated blood returns
to the heart via the veins of the body. All veins join either the superior or inferior vena cava which
return the blood to the right atrium.

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Blood

Blood makes up about 8% of body weight and is made up of two parts, the liquid part (55%)
and the solid part (45%).

The liquid part (PLASMA) is a yellow liquid made up of 90% water and 10% dissolved
substances. The majority of the dissolved substances consist of proteins that are
manufactured in the liver. These proteins function to maintain the volume of plasma inside
the cell by osmotically drawing water across the cell membrane. This balances out the loss
of water from the capillaries due to the blood pressure forcing it out.

The main functions of plasma are:

 To carry materials such as fat, glucose and amino acids around the body
 Transport enzymes, hormones and antibodies around the body
 Contains fibrinogen which is required for blood clotting
 Carry waste products around the body for excretion

The solid part of blood consists of the following components:

 Red blood cells

 White blood cells
 Platelets

Blood vessels
There are 3 types of blood vessels:

 Arteries- (blood carried away from the heart), is elastic and has tough walls
 Capillaries – join together to form larger blood vessels called veins (Fig3.3.3)
 Veins – carry blood to the heart, do not need thick walls, blood flows through narrow
capillaries.
To ensure the blood flows in 1 direction toward the heart, there are valves along the length
of veins.

Blood vessels are hollow tubes that form the transport system, which carries the blood
around the body. There are three main types of blood vessels:

 Arteries
 Veins
 Capillaries

Arteries and Arterioles

Structure

 Have thick muscular walls to withstand pressure from the pumping heart
 Contain no valves
 Impermeable (i.e. nothing can pass through their walls)
 The biggest artery in the body is the aorta. It is the first vessel blood reaches when it
leaves the heart and therefore has to cope with the highest forces; hence its size

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  Other arteries branch off of the aorta, and others off of these. As they continue to
branch they get smaller and smaller until they become arterioles the smallest type of
arteries

Function

 Take blood away from the heart

 Mainly carry oxygenated blood (except for the pulmonary artery, which carries
deoxygenated blood away from the heart to the lungs)
 Arterioles are the smaller branches of arteries that control the amount of blood
flowing into the capillaries in specific areas by the degree of contraction of the
smooth muscle in the vessel walls
 If more blood is required the arterioles will dilate (widen) and if less blood is required
the arterioles will narrow (vasoconstriction). This is controlled by the nervous system.
 It is the amount of resistance to the flow of blood through the arterioles, that
increases the blood pressure in the major arteries

Veins and Venules

Structure

 Have thinner walls of smooth muscle with little elasticity as under low pressure
 Contain valves to prevent backflow of blood, and ensure it flows in the right direct
 Impermeable (i.e. nothing can pass through their walls)
 The smallest veins are known as venules
 The largest vein is the vena cava which drains blood back into the heart from the
body

Function

 Take blood to the heart

 Mainly carry deoxygenated blood (except for the pulmonary vein, which carries
oxygenated blood from the lungs back to the heart)
 Venules (small veins) carry blood from the capillary beds back to the main veins
towards the heart
 Blood from the venules drain into the larger veins which all eventually join the inferior
or superior vena cava, that returns the blood to the heart
 Because blood pressure is very low in the veins, blood needs help to return to the
heart. This is achieved by the valves that prevent backflow of the blood, the suction
action of inhaling (Boyle's law), contracting muscles (squeeze all the little vessels in
the muscle, causing the blood to move forwards) and by vasoconstriction of the
vessels (squeezes the blood towards the heart)

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Capillaries
Structure

 Do not have an inner muscular wall or outer wall of connective tissue

 Have very thin walls, made up of one layer of epithelial cells
 Contain no valves
 Permeable (i.e. materials can pass through their walls)

Function

 Join arteries to veins

 Allow exchange of materials between blood and cells by diffusion