Atrium (heart)

Atrium (heart)
In anatomy, the atrium (plural: atria) is a portion of the blood collection chamber of the heart. It is also sometimes called the auricle, although in the technical sense, the auricle is a separate part of the main atrium[1] known as the atrial appendages. The atrium is a chamber in which blood enters the heart, as opposed to the ventricle, where it is pushed out of the organ. It has a thin-walled structure that allows blood to return to the heart. There is at least one atrium in animals with a closed circulatory system. In fish, the circulatory system is very simple: a two-chambered heart including one atrium and one ventricle. In other vertebrate groups, the circulatory system is much more complicated. Their circulatory systems are divided into two types: a three-chambered heart, with two atria and one ventricle, or a four-chambered heart, with two atria and two ventricles. The atrium receives blood as it returns to the heart to complete a circulating cycle, whereas the ventricle pumps blood out of the heart to start a new cycle.[2][3]

Human heart
Humans have a four-chambered heart consisting of the right atrium, left atrium, right ventricle, and left ventricle. The right atrium receives deoxygenated blood from the superior vena cava, inferior vena cava and coronary sinus. The left atrium receives oxygenated blood from the left and right pulmonary veins.[4] The atria do not have valves at their inlets.[5] As a result, a venous pulsation is normal and can be detected in the jugular vein as the jugular venous pressure.[6][7] Internally, there is the rough musculae pectinati and crista terminalis, Atria which act as a boundary inside the atrium and the smooth walled part derived from the sinus venosus.[8] There is also a fossa ovalis in the interatrial septum, which is used in the fetal period as a means of bypassing the lung.The atrium is depolarized by calcium. There are two atria, one on either side of the heart. On the right side is the atrium that holds blood that is deoxygenated. It sends blood to the right ventricle, which sends it to the lungs for oxygen. After it comes back, it is sent to the left atrium. The blood is pumped from the left atrium and sent to the left ventricle where it is sent to the aorta, which takes it to the rest of the body.[9]

Atrial function
In human physiology, the atria facilitate circulation primarily by allowing uninterrupted venous flow to the heart during ventricular systole.[10][11] By being partially empty and distensible, atria prevent the interruption of venous flow to the heart that would occur during ventricular systole if the veins ended at the inlet valves of the heart. In normal physiologic states, the output of the heart is pulsatile, and the venous inflow to the heart is continuous and non-pulsatile. But without functioning atria, venous flow becomes pulsatile, and the overall circulation rate decreases significantly.[12][13] Atria have four essential characteristics that cause them to promote continuous venous flow. (1) There are no atrial inlet valves to interrupt blood flow during atrial systole. (2) The atrial systole contractions are incomplete and thus do not contract to the extent that would block flow from the veins through the atria into the ventricles. During atrial systole, blood not only empties from the atria to the ventricles, but blood continues to flow uninterrupted from the

Atrium (heart) veins right through the atria into the ventricles. (3) The atrial contractions must be gentle enough so that the force of contraction does not exert significant back pressure that would impede venous flow. (4) The "let go" of the atria must be timed so that they relax before the start of ventricular contraction, to be able to accept venous flow without interruption.[14][15] By preventing the inertia of interrupted venous flow that would otherwise occur at each ventricular systole, atria allow approximately 75% more cardiac output than would otherwise occur. The fact that atrial contraction is 15% of the amount of the succeeding ventricular ejection has led to a misplaced emphasis on their role in pumping up the ventricles (the so-called "atrial kick"), whereas the key benefit of atria is in preventing circulatory inertia and allowing uninterrupted venous flow to the heart.[16][17]

References
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] http:/ / www. drugs. com/ dict/ auricles-of-atria. html http:/ / www. healthsystem. virginia. edu/ uvahealth/ adult_cardiac/ anatomy. cfm http:/ / www. ivy-rose. co. uk/ HumanBody/ Blood/ Heart_Structure. php http:/ / www. ivy-rose. co. uk/ HumanBody/ Blood/ Heart_Structure. php http:/ / www. americanheart. org/ presenter. jhtml?identifier=4598 http:/ / www. patient. co. uk/ doctor/ Jugular-Venous-Pressure. htm http:/ / www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/ bookshelf/ br. fcgi?book=cm& part=A622#A629

[8] http:/ / www. med. unc. edu/ embryo_images/ unit-cardev/ cardev_htms/ cardev040. htm [9] Human heart anatomy diagram. (http:/ / www. nhlbi. nih. gov/ health/ dci/ Diseases/ hhw/ hhw_anatomy. html) Retrieved on 2010-07-02. [10] Anderson, RM. The Gross Physiology of the Cardiovascular System (2nd ed., 2012). (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=A3OmTSgtOgwC& printsec=frontcover& source=gbs_ge_summary_r& cad=0#v=onepage& q& f=false) See "Chapter 1: Normal Physiology." [11] Anderson, R.M., Fritz, J.M., and OHare, J.E. The Mechanical Nature of the Heart as a Pump. American Heart Journal 73 (1967): 92-105. (http:/ / cardiac-output. info/ 1967AHJ. pdf) [12] The Determinants of Cardiac Output (http:/ / cardiac-output. info/ the-determinants-of-cardiac/ ) (video produced by University of Arizona Biomedical Communications; demonstration of atrial effect begings at 13:43). [13] http:/ / cardiac-output. info (See discussion of atrial effect in text Chapter 1.) [14] Anderson, RM. The Gross Physiology of the Cardiovascular System (2nd ed.) (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=A3OmTSgtOgwC& printsec=frontcover& source=gbs_ge_summary_r& cad=0#v=onepage& q& f=false) See "Chapter 1: Normal Physiology." [15] Anderson, R.M., Fritz, J.M., and OHare, J.E. The Mechanical Nature of the Heart as a Pump. American Heart Journal 73 (1967): 92-105. (http:/ / cardiac-output. info/ 1967AHJ. pdf) [16] The Gross Physiology of the Cardiovascular System at 11. (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=A3OmTSgtOgwC& lpg=PP1& pg=PA11#v=onepage& q& f=false) [17] Anderson, R.M., Fritz, J.M., and OHare, J.E. The Mechanical Nature of the Heart as a Pump. American Heart Journal 73 (1967): 92-105. (http:/ / cardiac-output. info/ 1967AHJ. pdf)

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