There are three circulatory pathways operating in man.

They are: Systemic Hepatic Portal Pulmonary

Systematics
Systemic is the most widespread circulatory pathway. It accounts for supply of oxygenated blood to all the parts of the body and collection of deoxygenated blood from the tissues.

Path of Blood

The left ventricle of the heart opens into a major artery called the aorta. The aorta branches just above the heart to form the coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart walls. The aorta

continues and then branches into two main arteries, one artery going up and the other coming down. The artery going up branches off as subclavian artery to the shoulder and continues as the carotid artery that supplies to the head and neck region. The downward branch of the aorta branches off as it proceeds down into hepatic artery to the liver, mesentric artery to the stomach and intestine, renal artery to the kidneys and iliac artery to the genitals and legs.

The arteries in the organs divide into arterioles and then into the capillaries. These capillaries join together to form the venules that join together to form the veins. The iliac vein carries deoxygenated blood from the genitals and legs, the renal vein from the kidneys and hepatic vein from the liver. All these veins join together to form the inferior vena cava, one of the two great veins. The jugular vein that brings deoxygenated blood from the head and neck region and the subclavian vein that brings from the shoulder region join together to form the superior vena cava, the other great vein.

The vena cavae return the blood to the right auricle of the heart. As the blood passes through the intestinal walls, it takes in the abosrbed food. When the blood passes through the kidneys, all the nitrogenous wastes are removed. The absorbed food and oxygen is distributed in the tissues and wastes and carbon dioxide is picked up.

Hepatic Portal

In the systemic circulation, the organs receive the blood from the vessel coming directly from the heart. However, a portal circulation connects two organs. A portal vein is that which connects two organs without the involvement of heart in between. This means that the portal veins begin and end with capillaries. There are two portal systems in man. One is between hypothalamus and pituitary gland and the other is between the gut and the liver.

The portal system between the gut (stomach and intestines) and the liver is called the hepatic portal system. The hepatic portal vein goes from the stomach and the intestines to the liver. The hepatic vein leaves the liver with the deoxygenated blood. This means that the stomach and intestines receive blood directly from the heart by way of mesentric artery. However, there is no mesentric vein that carries deoxygenated blood to the inferior vena cava like the other lower body organs. The vein from the stomach and intestine goes to the liver. This is probably to regulate the substances going out of the gut into the blood. For example, if the blood from the gut contains more glucose, the liver can convert it to glycogen and store it. The blood leaving the liver will have the correct level of glucose.

Pulmonary Back to Top

The circulation of blood between heart and lungs for purification of blood is called pulmonary circulation.

During pulmonary circulation, the right ventricle of the heart pumps blood into the pulmonary artery. The pulmonary artery takes the deoxygenated blood to the lungs where it is oxygenated. The oxygenated blood is returned by the pulmonary vein to the left auricle in the heart. The presence of pulmonary circulation ensures that all the blood before being pumped once again to the different parts of the body is oxygenated. This helps the mammals and the birds to maintain high metabolic rates and makes them more efficient.