Heart Basics

Oxygenated blood flows on the left hand side and deoxygenated blood of the
right hand side.
The heart consists of four chambers.

Left atrium
Left ventricle
Right atrium
Right ventricle

Pulmonary vein is a vein carrying oxygenated blood from the lungs to the left
atrium of the heart.
Vena cava is a large vein carrying deoxygenated blood into the right atria. There
are two in humans, the inferior vena cava (carrying blood from the lower body)
and the superior vena cava (carrying blood from the upper body).
Aorta is the largest artery that caries oxygenated blood from the left ventricle of
the heart to the rest of the body.
Pulmonary artery that carries deoxygenated blood from the right ventricle to the
lungs.
The Atrioventricular valves link the atria to the ventricles.
o
o

Tricuspid-> on the right hand side, has three cusps (flaps), because the
right hand side has a larger diameter.
Bicuspid, also known as the mitral valve -> on the left hand side has two
cusps (flaps), because the left side of the heart has a smaller diameter,
due to the thicker muscle.

Semi-lunar valves link the ventricles to the pulmonary artery and aorta.
The main roles of the valves are to prevent backflow of blood. The valves only
open one way. If there is higher pressure behind the valve, then is it forced open.
If there is higher pressure in front of the valve, it is forced closed.
The heart is mainly cardiac muscle. The left ventricle of the heart has thicker
more muscular walls, this is because it needs to contract powerfully to pump
oxygenated blood out of the aorta and to all around the body. The right hand side
only needs to pump deoxygenated blood out of the pulmonary artery to the
lungs, which is nearby.
In general the ventricles are thicker than the atria

The ventricles need to pump blood out of the heart,

Whereas the atria only need to pump blood into the ventricles, which is a
shorter distance.

The cardiac cycle

Diastole (filling phase)

When both the atria and the ventricles are relaxing.

Increasing their internal volume.

Lowering the pressure in the heart chambers.

The higher pressure in the pulmonary artery (CARRIES DEOXYGENATED BOOD FROM
THE RIGHT VENTRICLE TO THE LUNGS) and aorta (CARRIES OXYGENATED BLOOD FROM THE LEFT
VENTRICLE TO THE REST OF THE BODY) causes the semi-lunar valves to close,
preventing backflow.
Then the atria fill with blood again due to the high pressure from blood
flowing in from the major vein.
The vena cava (CARRIES DEOXYGENATED BLOOD FROM UPPER/LOWER BODY INTO THE RIGHT
ATRIUM) and pulmonary vein (CARRYING OXYGENATED BLOOD FROM THE LUNGS TO THE LEFT
ATRIUM OF THE HEART).

Atrial systole (atrial contraction)

Both right and left atria fill with blood.
The volume of the atria decreases.
The pressure of the atria increase.
Both the right and left atria fill contract together.
There is a further increase in pressure, as a result of the atria contracting
causing the atrioventricular valves to open allowing blood to flow into the
ventricles.
Ventricular systole (ventricular contraction)
Short period where all four heart valves are closed.
The walls of the ventricles contract.
The pressure in the ventricles is higher than in the atria, causing the
atrioventricular valves to shut close to prevent backflow.
The high pressure in the ventricles causes the semi-lunar valves to open.
Contraction starts at the apex of the heart pushing blood upwards towards
the arteries. (The pulmonary artery and aorta.)
When the ventricle walls relax, the heart starts to fill again.
Control of the heart beat
Cardiac muscle is myogenic (it can contract and relax without receiving signals
from nerves.)
Sino-atrial node (SAN), which is in the wall of the right atrium. The SAN is like a
pacemaker, it sends waves of electrical activity over the atrial walls. This causes
the right aria and left atria to contact at the same time. A band of nonconducting tissues prevents the wave of electrical activity to be directly passed
onto the ventricles.
The Atrioventricular node (AVN) is responsible for passing the electrical activity
onto the Bundle of His. There is a delay before the AVN reacts to make sure the
atria have fully emptied, allowing the ventricles to react.
The Bundle of His is a group of muscle fibres responsible for conducting the
waves of electrical activity to the Purkyne tissues in the walls of the right and left
ventricle. The Purkyne tissues carries the waves of electrical activity into the
muscular walls of the right and left ventricle, causing them to contract
simultaneously from the bottom up.

Electrocardiographs
Records the changes in electrical charge using electrodes places on the chest.
Traces produced by an electrocardiographs is called an electrocardiogram (ECG).
P wave is caused by contraction of the atria (atrial systole).
QRS complex is caused by the contraction of the ventricles (ventricular systole).
T wave is due to the relaxation of the ventricles.
Heart rate (bpm) = 60 time taken for one heart beat (s)
FROM ONE R TO ANOTHER R
OR FROM ONE S TO ANOTHER S
A normal adult will have around 60-100 beats per minute.
A normal child will have around 70-120 beats per minute.
Look at the graph the heart rate may be too fast, which may be due to the
person exercising. (Around 120 beats per minute).
Sometimes P wave is not followed by the QRS complex, suggesting that the
ventricles are not contracting properly. This suggests that they may be a problem
at the AVN, as impulses are not travelling from the atria to the ventricles.
If there is an irregular heartbeat this is known as atrial fibrillation. The atria and
ventricles have completely lost their rhythm and have therefore stopped
contracting causing chest pains and fainting.

ARTERIES
o
o
o
o
o

Can carry blood from the heart to the rest of the body.
Their walls are thick.
They have elastic tissue, to withstand the pressure produced by the
heartbeat.
The endothelium is folded allowing the artery to expand.
Diameter of lumen is small.

CAPILLARIES
o
o
o
o
o
o
VEINS
o

Arteries branch into capillaries.

Endothelium are one cell thick.
Fenestrations between the cells in the walls are large enough to let
glucose and oxygen through, but not erythrocytes.
Extensively branched, increasing the surface area.
Close too many things i.e. alveoli.
Large lumen to increase rate of diffusion.