Cardiovascular System

The Heart

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 Functions of the Heart
• Generating blood pressure
• Routing blood
– Heart separates pulmonary and systemic
circulations
• Ensuring one-way blood flow
– Heart valves ensure one-way flow
• Regulating blood supply
– Changes in contraction rate and force match
blood delivery to changing metabolic needs

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Size, Shape, Location
of the Heart
• Size of a closed fist
• Shape
– Apex: Blunt rounded
point of cone
– Base: Flat part at
opposite of end of cone
• Located in thoracic
cavity in mediastinum

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Heart Cross Section

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Pericardium

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 Heart Wall

• Three layers of tissue

– Epicardium: This serous membrane of smooth
outer surface of heart
– Myocardium: Middle layer composed of
cardiac muscle cell and responsibility for heart
contracting
– Endocardium: Smooth inner surface of heart
chambers

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Heart Wall

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External Anatomy
• Four chambers
– 2 atria
– 2 ventricles
• Auricles
• Major veins
– Superior vena cava
– Pulmonary veins
• Major arteries
– Aorta
– Pulmonary trunk
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External Anatomy

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Coronary Circulation

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Heart Valves

• Atrioventricular
– Tricuspid
– Bicuspid or mitral
• Semilunar
– Aortic
– Pulmonary
• Prevent blood from
flowing back

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Heart Valves

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Function of the Heart Valves

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Blood Flow Through Heart

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Systemic and Pulmonary
Circulation

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Heart Skeleton
• Consists of plate of
fibrous connective tissue
between atria and
ventricles
• Fibrous rings around
valves to support
• Serves as electrical
insulation between atria
and ventricles
• Provides site for muscle
attachment

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 Cardiac Muscle

• Elongated, branching cells containing 1-2 centrally located nuclei

• Contains actin and myosin myofilaments
• Intercalated disks: Specialized cell-cell contacts
• Desmosomes hold cells together and gap junctions allow action potentials
• Electrically, cardiac muscle behaves as single unit 20-17
Conducting System of Heart

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 Electrical Properties

• Resting membrane potential (RMP) present

• Action potentials
– Rapid depolarization followed by rapid, partial
early repolarization. Prolonged period of slow
repolarization which is plateau phase and a
rapid final repolarization phase
– Voltage-gated channels

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 Action Potentials in
Skeletal and Cardiac Muscle

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SA Node Action Potential

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 Refractory Period

• Absolute: Cardiac muscle cell completely

insensitive to further stimulation
• Relative: Cell exhibits reduced sensitivity to
additional stimulation
• Long refractory period prevents tetanic
contractions

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Electrocardiogram
• Action potentials through
myocardium during
cardiac cycle produces
electric currents than can
be measured
• Pattern
– P wave
• Atria depolarization
– QRS complex
• Ventricle depolarization
• Atria repolarization
– T wave:
• Ventricle repolarization
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 Cardiac Arrhythmias
• Tachycardia: Heart rate in excess of 100bpm
• Bradycardia: Heart rate less than 60 bpm
• Sinus arrhythmia: Heart rate varies 5%
during respiratory cycle and up to 30%
during deep respiration
• Premature atrial contractions: Occasional
shortened intervals between one contraction
and succeeding, frequently occurs in healthy
people
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Alterations in Electrocardiogram

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 Cardiac Cycle

• Heart is two pumps that work together, right

and left half
• Repetitive contraction (systole) and
relaxation (diastole) of heart chambers
• Blood moves through circulatory system
from areas of higher to lower pressure.
– Contraction of heart produces the pressure

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Cardiac Cycle

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Events during Cardiac Cycle

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 Heart Sounds

• First heart sound or “lubb”

– Atrioventricular valves and surrounding fluid vibrations
as valves close at beginning of ventricular systole
• Second heart sound or “dupp”
– Results from closure of aortic and pulmonary semilunar
valves at beginning of ventricular diastole, lasts longer
• Third heart sound (occasional)
– Caused by turbulent blood flow into ventricles and
detected near end of first one-third of diastole

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Location of Heart Valves

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 Mean Arterial Pressure (MAP)
• Average blood pressure in aorta
• MAP=CO x PR
– CO is amount of blood pumped by heart per
minute
• CO=SV x HR
– SV: Stroke volume of blood pumped during each heart beat
– HR: Heart rate or number of times heart beats per minute
• Cardiac reserve: Difference between CO at rest and
maximum CO
– PR is total resistance against which blood must be
pumped
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Factors Affecting MAP

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 Regulation of the Heart
• Intrinsic regulation: Results from normal
functional characteristics, not on neural or
hormonal regulation
– Starling’s law of the heart
• Extrinsic regulation: Involves neural and
hormonal control
– Parasympathetic stimulation
• Supplied by vagus nerve, decreases heart rate, acetylcholine
secreted
– Sympathetic stimulation
• Supplied by cardiac nerves, increases heart rate and force of
contraction, epinephrine and norepinephrine released

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 Heart Homeostasis
• Effect of blood pressure
– Baroreceptors monitor blood pressure
• Effect of pH, carbon dioxide, oxygen
– Chemoreceptors monitor
• Effect of extracellular ion concentration
– Increase or decrease in extracellular K+ decreases heart
rate
• Effect of body temperature
– Heart rate increases when body temperature increases,
heart rate decreases when body temperature decreases

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Baroreceptor and Chemoreceptor
Reflexes

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Baroreceptor Reflex

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Chemoreceptor Reflex-pH

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 Effects of Aging on the Heart
• Gradual changes in heart function, minor
under resting condition, more significant
during exercise
• Hypertrophy of left ventricle
• Maximum heart rate decreases
• Increased tendency for valves to function
abnormally and arrhythmias to occur
• Increased oxygen consumption required to
pump same amount of blood
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