Form and Function Yield to Science in Cardiovascular/ Respiratory Architecture

The following information was attained through online research, an interview with Dr. Tamara McNutt of Clemson University’s department of Biological Sciences, and a review session with a Genetics Pre-Med student and roommate, Brennan Shutt. I erred on the side of having too much scientific information in my research because it in never clear what will be useful and what will not be.

Basically:

The heart is a pump that shoots oxygenated blood through the body and into tissues and capillaries. The blood makes a full cycle through the body and returns to the heart “oxygen poor”.



Blood is a connective tissue meaning:

It carries tons of stuff important to our bodies such as:

White Blood Cells (Immune System)
Red Blood Cells (Oxygen)
Hormones
Water


The heart is also a muscle made up of one of the three types of Muscle Tissue called, Cardiac Muscle Tissue. The heart expands an contracts, forcing the blood through the valves and arteries.



As the heart is a cardiac muscle, it is important to know about the three types of muscle tissue in the body.

Cardiac Tissue: Is Striated and contains 1 nucleus per cell
Skeletal Tissue: Striated and can have mulpiple nuclei per cell on the wall of the membrane
Smooth Tissue: Not Striated, and has only 1 nucleus per cell.

To be striated means there are cross striations formed by an alternation of thick and thin proteins.


A simple diagram shows how blood moves through the heart and out into the rest of the body. You can match the steps with the numbers on the concept drawing.



Basically:

There are 4 compartments, 2 ventricles and 2 atria

1.) START at the Vena Cava with blood returning to R atrium oxygen poor under its lowest pressure.
2.) The blood moves down into R ventricle through the Tricuspid Valve
3.) Blood moves down again into the lungs through the Pulmonary Artery where it is oxygenated
4.) Blood moves from the lungs to the Left Atrium through the pulmonary vein
5.) Blood moves from the Left atrium down into the left ventricle through the Mitral Valve
6.) Blood is now sent into the body out to the body oxygen rich and under its highest pressure.