CAPILLARY CIRCULATION

The capillary circulation links the arterial (oxygenated) system to the venous
(deoxygenated) system.
The capillaries form an intimate relationship both structurally and functionally
with the tissues. It is at the capillary level that exchange of dissolved
glucose, amino acids, oxygen etc takes place.

Blood enters the arterial end under high blood pressure and due to this high
pressure blood undergoes filtration at the capillary wall. The simple squamous
epithelium acts as the filter, so that the filtrate consists mainly of water and
all its dissolved contents of plasma. This filtrate is referred to as the tissue
fluid and this process of pressure filtration of blood is called ultra-filtration.

The tissue fluid plays a very integral part in the maintenance of Homeostasis.
(Homeostasis is defined as “the maintenance of a constant internal environment”)
The tissue fluid, being a direct filtrate of blood, bathes the cells and tissue
thereby supplying it with nourishment and oxygen. Since the tissue fluid comes
into direct contact with the cytoplasm it is crucial that its temperature, pH, and
contents remain constant at all times. Therefore, as stated earlier, since
tissue fluid is a direct filtrate of blood the liver and other organs strive at
all times to keep the level of glucose, oxygen, salt/water (osmotic pressure),
temperature and pH of blood constant. This will ensure that these criteria are
thus maintained in the tissue fluid and cytoplasm.

The tissue fluid exits the capillary at the arterial end due to the blood pressure
being high. The tissue fluid contains everything in blood except the red blood
cells, white blood cells and plasma proteins. Approximately midway along the
capillaries, the pressure exerted by the plasma proteins, the osmotic oncotic
pressure, exceeds the blood pressure so the tissue fluid re-enters the venous end
of the capillary. However, due to pressure indifferences not all the fluid is
returned to the capillaries. Instead the remaining fluid is drained through the
lymphatic capillaries, which originate at the tissues.

The lymphatic vessels carry the lymph, which is similar to plasma, except that it
lacks fibrinogen, upwards until it returns this lymph to the venous circulation
when the thoracic ymph duct empties into the left subclavian vein just near the
superior venecava. Thus the lymphatics act as a drainage system returning the
balance tissue fluid to the blood circulation.
CARDIAC EXCITATION

Embedded within the walls of the myocardium is specialised conducting tissue that
carries a wave of depolarization through the heart resulting in its smooth
coordinated contraction. This tissue is believed to be specialised neural tissue
which when it contracts, makes the myocardium contract with it. First is the
SAN(sino-atrial node) that acts like the pace maker and it is embedded in the wall
of the right atrium. It initiates the impulse which travels along the walls of the
atria and converges at the AVN (atrio-ventricular node). The time taken for the
impulse to travel from the SAN to the AVN corresponds to atrial ststole. The AVN
is surrounded by non-conductive tissue which slows down the passage of the
impulse. Thus there is a delay at the AVN which is very important in ensuring that
atrial systole is totally over before ventricular systole begins. From the AVN,
rapid impulses travel down the Bundle of His and Purkinje fibres to the apex of
the heart. Ventricular systole thus begins at the apex and radiates upwards so
that both ventricles contract from the apex upwards forcing the blood in an upward
direction into the two great arteries.

Remember that cardiac muscle is myogenic and thus does not need a nerve supply to
contract. However, Adrenaline and the sympathetic nervous system can accelerate
the heart rate by telling the SAN to increase its discharge. Similarly, the
parasympathetic nervous system can slow the heart rate. Thus the heart rate can be
altered and modified when necessary.