Blood

 Circulatory system of a mammal is a:

o Closed system:
 Blood flows inside vessels in its journey around the body
 Blood does not flow out of these vessels except during a cut [blood clots quickly to seal internal and external
wounds to limit blood loss]
 The heart is a pump that keeps blood flowing through the circulation. The 3 main vessels in a closed system are arteries,
capillaries and veins
 Arteries: transports blood at high pressures from heart allowing for efficient exchange between tissues
 Capillaries: where substances are exchanged between blood and tissue fluid that surround the cells
 Veins: stretch to accommodate any volume of blood and return it at low pressure to the heart
o Double circulation:
 Blood flows through the heart twice in one complete circulation of the body
 There are two types:
 Pulmonary circulation: blood flows form heart to lungs in pulmonary arteries and returns to heart in the
pulmonary vein
 Systemic circulation: blood is pumped by the heart into the aorta, then through the arteries to all organs
except the lungs. Blood returns to the heart by veins that join up to the vena cava which joins up to the
heart.
 Advantage of a double circulation is blood can be sent to different parts of the body at different pressures e.g.
blood flows to the lungs at a lower pressure than the systemic circulation, this prevents damage to the capillaries
 A high pressure in the aorta means that blood is delivered at high pressures to the rest of the body so there is
efficient supply of O2
 Blood is a tissue composed of cells and extra-cellular substances found in blood plasma
 Plasma (makes up 55% of blood volume) consists of water with chemicals dissolved in it:
o Nutrients: glucose, amino acids, lipids, vitamins and mineral ions
o Wastes – urea and CO2
o Blood proteins – albumen and antibodies
o Hormones – insulin, glucagon and adrenaline
 Production of blood:
 Blood components originate in different places
 Red blood cells, platelets, neutrophils (phagocyte) and monocytes (agranulocyte – mononuclear leucocyte) are made in the
bone marrow
 Lymphocytes are made in the bone marrow, but tend to populate the lymph nodes where they divide during infections
 The water in the plasma is absorbed from the stomach and intestines and is filtered in the kidneys which reabsorbs most of it
leaving little to be lost as urine.
Ions, proteins, amino acids, glucose, cholesterol and fats are added to plasma and removed from the blood as blood flows
through capillaries and tissues

Type of blood cell Features

Red blood cell - small cell 7µm in diameter
-biconcave disc shape
-flexible membrane: can change shape and easily fit through capillaries
-No nucleus and organelles: more space for Haemoglobin i.e. more O2
and CO2 transported
-cytoplasm is full of Haemoglobin
-contains the enzyme carbonic anhydrase: catalyzes reactions to help
transport CO2
Neutrophil (a phagocytic cell aka a granulocyte [polymorphonuclear - large cell 10 µm in diameter
leucocyte]) -lobed nucleus: helps cells leave through blood capillary walls
- small nucleus:cytoplasm ratio
- contains mitochondria, RER, Golgi body
- contains many lysosomes: for protein synthesis to make hydrolase
enzymes for intracellular digestion of bacteria and pathogens
Monocyte (a granulocyte -mononuclear leucocyte): -Larger cell 12-20 µm in diameter
- these monocytes travel to tissues where they become long lived -bean shaped nucleus
macrophages (which are long lived phagocytic cells) -contain a mitochondria, RER and Golgi Body
Lymphocytes: -smaller cell, 4-6 µm in diameter
- these cells are activated to become plasma cells which secrete antibodies -Large nucleus:cytoplasm ratio
-many are memory cells specialized for secreting antibodies specific for -highly specific cell surface receptors
certain pathogens
- they are activated by infection from those pathogens

Three types of blood vessels: arteries, capillaries and veins

Blood vessel Function
Artery: endotheliem
-carries blood flowing away from the
great at a high pressure
-stretches and recoils to maintain blood
pressure
- delivers bloods to organs at a slightly
less pressure than when it left the heart
Vein:
-carries blood flowing towards the heart at
a low pressure
-can expand to take in increasing volumes
of blood e.g. During exercise
Capillary:
- carries blood flowing between arteries
and veins at low pressures and low speed
- allows the exchange of respiratory gases,
solutes and water between blood and
tissue fluid
The cardiac cycle:
 Heart beats around 70 times per min at rest
 Cardiac cycle: sequence of events that make up one heart beat
 Atrial systole:
o Heart fills with blood and the muscles of the atrial walls contract
o pressure developed by this contraction is not very great because the muscular walls of the atria are thin
o However, the pressure is enough to force blood into the atria down through the atrioventricular valves into the
ventricles
o The blood from the atria does go back into the pulmonary vein or vena cava because the semi-lunar valves prevemt
backflow
 Ventricular systole:
o Occurs 0.1s after the atria contracts.
o The ventricles contract and the thick muscular walls of the ventricles squeeze inwards on the blood, increasing its
pressure and pushing it out of the heart
o As soon as the pressure difference becomes greater in the ventricle than the atria, the pressure difference forces the
semilunar valves shut, preventing blood from going back up into the atria
o Instead, the blood rushes into the aorta and pulmonary artery, pushing open the semilunar valves in the vessels.
o This stage lasts for about 0.3s
 Ventricular diastole:
o The muscles then begin to relax and the pressure in the ventricles drop
o The high-pressured blood which has been pushed into the arteries cannot flow back into the ventricles due to the
semilunar valves which snaps shut as the blood fills their cusp
o As the whole heart muscle relaxes, the blood from the veins flow into the 2 atria
o The blood is at a very low pressure, but the thin walls of the atria are easily distended/swollen providing very little
resistance to the blood flow
o Some of the blood flows down into the ventricles, the atrial muscles then contract pushing blood forcefully down into
the ventricles and the whole cycle starts again
 The walls of the ventricle are much thicker than the walls of the atria because the ventricles need more force to pump blood out
of the heart and around the body
 For the right ventricle, the force required is relatively small as the blood travels to the lungs which is very close to the heart
 The walls of the left ventricle need to be thicker than the right ventricle, since the left ventricle pumps blood around the entire
body
 The opening and closing of valves are due to changes in pressure which alter which side of the valve has the highest pressure
 The contraction of the muscles in the walls of a chamber causes the pressure to rise in that chamber
o During atrial systole: blood pressure is higher in the atrium than the ventricle, so the valve is forced open
o During ventricular systole: the pressure of the blood is higher in the ventricle than the atria, the pressure of the blood
pushes up against the cusps of the valves, pushing it shut
o Contraction of the papillary muscles attached to the valves by tendons prevent the valves from being forced inside out
o During ventricular systole, the pressure of the blood forces the valve open
o During ventricular diastole, the pressure of the blood in the arteries is higher than in the ventricles, the pressure of the
blood pushes into the cusps of the valves squeezing them shut
Control of the heartbeat:
 Cardiac muscle is myogenic i.e. it automatically contracts and relaxes
 It does not need to receive an impulse from a nerve to make it contract
 The heart has its own built in control and coordinating system
 This is to prevent the heart from contracting out of sequence with other parts and resulting in the cycle becoming disordered
leading to the heart to stop working as a pump
 The cardiac cycle is initiated in a small patch of muscle in the wall of the right atrium – SINO-ATRIAL NODE or SAN
 The SAN is often called the pacemaker as the muscle cells in the SAN set the pace and rhythm for all other cardiac muscle
cells
 The natural rhythm of the SAN muscle cells is slightly faster than the rest of the heart muscles
 Each time the SAN muscle cells contract, they set up a wave of electrical activity which rapidly spreads over the atrial walls
 The cardiac muscle in the atrial walls respond to this excitation wave by contracting in the same rhythm as the SAN thus all
the muscles in both atria contract simultaneously
 The muscles of the ventricle do not contract until 0.1s after the muscles of the atria
 This delay is caused by a brief delay in the excitation wave in its passage from the atria to the ventricles
 There is a band of fibres between the atria and ventricles which does not conduct the excitation wave. As the wave spreads out
from the SAN it cannot pass through these fibres
 The only route is through a small patch of conducting fibres called the atrio-ventricular node or AVN
 The AVN picks up the excitation waves after a delay of 0.1s
 The AVN then passes the waves onto a bunch of conducting fibres called the Purkyne tissue (Bundle of His) which runs down
the septum between the ventricles
 This transmits the excitation wave very rapidly down to the base of the septum where its spreads outwards and upwards
through the ventricle walls
 This causes the cardiac muscle in these walls to contract from the bottom up squeezing blood upwards and into the arteries
Drugs to help the heart
 Two nerves carry impulses from the brain to the SAN:
o Vagus nerve: it releases a transmitter substance, acetylcholine, next to the cells in the SAN. Acetylcholine slots into
the receptors in the plasma membranes of these cells and makes the cells beat more slowly
o Sympathetic nerve: releases noradrenaline makes the cells in the SAN beat faster
 The hormone adrenaline (released from the adrenal glands just above the kidneys when a person is frightened or excited) has a
similar effect to noradrenaline.
 Digoxin and propranolol are drugs that can be used to help heart rate problems
 Digoxin:
o inhibits the Na-K pump in the plasma membrane of heart muscle cells.
o This pump usually keeps sodium concentration at a low level inside the cells.
o When the pump is slowed, Na+ ions are allowed to accumulate inside the cell
o This also increases the accumulation of Ca2+ ions inside the cell causing the force of the muscle contractions to increase
 Propranolol:
o Belongs to a class of drugs called beta blockers
o They work by decreasing the effect if noradrenaline on the SAN, reducing heart rate
o Beta blockers are often given to people with angina – a pain in the chest signaling that the coronary arteries are not
supplying enough O2 to the heart muscles
The regulation of cardiac output:
 If an increased volume of blood returns to the heart in the veins, then the heart responds by pumping harder and faster to push
it out
 This occurs because the incoming blood stretches the muscle in the walls of the heart, the muscle responds by contracting
harder than usual which increases the stroke volume
 Simultaneously, the stretching directly stimulates the SAN which responds by firing action potentials, slightly faster than
usual, slightly increasing heart rate
 During exercise, more blood is returned to the heart due to a drop in O2 in the blood in blood vessels of active muscles
 This drop in O2 stimulates the cells lining the inside of the blood vessels to release nitric oxide
 Nitric oxide causes muscles to relax in the walls of arterioles supplying blood to exercising muscles – vasodilation
 This increases the rate at which blood is returned to the heart, increasing cardiac output which results in more O2 being
transported to the muscles
 This mechanism only works up to a certain max cardiac output, however, nervous stimulation can alter the range over which
the heart can cope with the blood returning to it
 The heart has 2 types of nerves which brings impulses from the cardiovascular center in the medulla of the brain
o Vagus (parasympathetic nerve) – brings impulses from the brain to the SAN and AVN
o Sympathetic nerve – brings impulses to many areas of the muscles in the heart walls
 If action potentials arrive along a sympathetic nerve, they speed up heart rate and increase stroke volume
 If action potentials arrive along the vagus nerve, they decrease heart rate and reduce stroke volume
 When you are about to exercise, your brain sends impulses to your muscles and along the sympathetic nerve to your heart
 This increases the rate of heartbeat, even before the increased volume of blood returning to the heart stimulates it to do so. This
prepares the heart to cope with the increased volume of blood returning to it during exercise
 Adrenaline secreted at the same time from the adrenal glands in times of nervousness or anticipation has a similar effect to
stimulation by sympathetic nerves
 These nerves may also be affected by blood pressure.
 Inside the aorta and walls of carotid arteries are nerve endings which are sensitive to stretching. These are called stretch
receptors or baroreceptors
 If blood pressure rises, this stretches the artery walls which stimulates these nerve endings.
 They fire off impulses to the brain which sends impulses down the vagus nerve to the heart. This slows down the heart rate and
reduces stroke volume which can help reduce blood pressure
 When there is low blood pressure, the baroreceptors are not stretched and do not send impulses to the brain.
 The cardiovascular center in the brain then send impulses down the sympathetic nerve which increases cardiac output and
blood pressure
 Impulses are also sent to muscles in arteriole walls which constrict and narrow arterioles (vasoconstriction) thus increasing
blood pressure