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4
THE HEART AND CIRCULATION
CORONARY ARTERIES AND VEINS the juncture between the right and left sides of the
Because the heart never rests while it supplies blood heart, in the area where the right atrium and right
to the rest of the body, it actually works harder than ventricle meet. From the rioventricular node, they
any other muscle in the body and needs a much richer travel along the bundle of His and the Purkinje
blood supply than other muscles. The heart supplies fibers-fibrous pathways named after the scientists
blood to itself through two coronary arteries, the who first described them — through the muscles of
right and the left, which leave the aorta about 1/2 inch the right and left ventricles.
above the aortic valve and run around the outside of
the heart. Both arteries lie in grooves on the outside
of the heart muscle and branch off into a system of THE CARDIAC CYCLE
smaller vessels and capillaries that supply the muscle
fibers. After giving off its oxygen in the capillaries, Electrical activity coordinates the rhythmic contrac-
the blood travels through coronary veins and drains tion and relaxation of the heart’s chambers known
directly into the right atrium, where it joins the ven- as the cardiac cycle. Most currents in the heart are
ous blood from the rest of the body. less than a millionth of an ampere (the current run-
When the heart is working harder than usual, the ning through a 100-watt bulb is approximately 1 am-
coronary arteries dilate to increase oxygen supply to pere), but they exert a powerful influence on the heart
the heart muscle. During extreme physical exertion, muscle.
flow in these arteries may increase by five to six times. The cardiac cycle consists of two phases, called
The better an individual’s physical condition, the diastole and systole. Diastole, during which the
more efficient is his or her heart in using the blood heart’s ventricles are relaxed, is the longer phase,
supply available. When blood supply is insufficient to taking up approximately two-thirds of the cycle.
meet the increased requirements in oxygen and nu- Systole, the phase during which blood is ejected
trients and to wash away waste materials, the heart from the ventricles, takes up the remaining one-
aches, just as other muscles might ache from an ex- third.
cessive workload. The lack of oxygen stimulates nerve During diastole, the sinus node generates an im-
cells, and chest pain, or angina pectoris, is noted. In pulse that forces the two atria to contract. In this
contrast to other muscles of the body, however, the phase, the tricuspid and mitral valves are open,
heart cannot stop for rest without devastating con- and blood is propelled from the atria into the re-
sequences. laxed ventricles. By the end of diastole, the electric
impulse reaches the ventricles, causing them to
contract.
During systole, the contracting ventricles close the
tricuspid and mitral valves. Shortly afterward, the
THE CONDUCTION SYSTEM pressure of the blood inside the ventricles rises suf-
Electrical currents that regulate the heart rhythm ficiently to force the pulmonary and aortic valves to
originate in cells of the heart muscle (myocardium) open, and blood is ejected into the pulmonary artery
and travel through a network of specialized fibers and the aorta. As the ventricles relax again, blood
referred to as the heart's conduction system. Its major backs up from the pulmonary artery and the aorta,
elements include the sinus or sinoatrial node, the closing down the pulmonary and aortic valves. The
atrioventricular or AV node, the bundle of His, and pressure in the relaxed ventricles is now lower than
the Purkinje fibers. (See color atlas, #3B.) in the atria, the ricuspid and mitral valves open
The sinus node, known as the heart’s pacemaker, again, and the cardiac cycle starts anew.
is a microscopic bundle of specialized cells located in This seemingly lengthy sequence of events in fact
the top right corner of the heart. Any portion of the takes approximately a second. The familiar double
heart muscle can generate electrical impulses, but in throb (lub dub) of the beating heart corresponds to
normal function, the impulses originate in this pace- the two sets of synchronized contractions that occur
maker. If the pacemaker’s function is disrupted, an- during the cardiac cycle: The throbbing sound we
other part of the conduction system can take over the hear comes not only from the snapping of the valves,
impulse-firing task. but also from the accompanying vibrations of other
Impulses are transmitted through muscle fibers of heart structures and from the turbulence produced
the two atria to the atrioventricular node, located on by the flow of blood.
5
THE HEART AND HOW IT WORKS
HEART RATE AND CARDIAC OUTPUT minute is called the cardiac output. When there is a
In an average adult, the pacemaker fires approxi- need for an increased blood supply, as during phys-
mately 70 impulses a minute at rest, which means that ical exertion, the heart most commonly increases its
in one minute the heart goes through a full cardiac output by beating faster—for example, up to 140 or
cycle 70 times. Athletes have larger and stronger 150 beats per minute. This mechanism, however, has
hearts that can deliver an adequate supply of blood its limits: Above a certain rate, the heart chambers
while beating slower than the hearts of untrained do not have time to fill properly and fail to pump
individuals. Generally, the greater the physical fitness efficiently.
of an individual, the slower the heart rate at rest.
Some well-trained athletes, for example, are known
to have a pulse rate of 35 beats per minute—half the
average figure for the general population. For them, STROKE VOLUME
the slow heart rate is efficient and does not pose a The cardiac output is determined not only by the
danger. For a 75-year-old untrained individual, how- heart rate but also by the amount of blood the ven-
ever, a rate of 35 to 40 might be inadequate to pump tricles eject or pump out with each contraction. This
sufficient blood to the brain or other vital organs. amount is called the stroke volume. Usually the ven-
Fatigue or even fainting might result. tricles expel about half the blood they contain, which
Because the lungs are so close to the heart and the corresponds to about 3 ounces in an average person
walls of the pulmonary vessels are thinner and thus at rest. A decrease in the stroke volume is one of the
offer less resistance, the right ventricle does not have first signs of a failing heart. While both ventricles
to exert nearly as much energy to do its job of sup- pump out, the same amount of blood in each stroke,
plying blood to the lungs as the left ventricle does in cardiologists usually measure only the stroke volume
supplying the rest of the body. of the left ventricle, because it is the one that pumps
The amount of blood pumped by the heart in one blood to all of the body’s organs except the lungs:
6
THE HEART AND CIRCULATION
Note: Many veins are paired with, and have the same name as, major arteries. These veins return to the heart the blood that the arteries deliver
to the tissues.
the walls of the veins are considerably thinner than and removing waste products from the tissues. Its
arterial walls. cells are produced in the marrow of bones, primarily
The larger veins have a system of internal one-way the flat bones such as the ribs and the breastbone.
valves that prevents the blood from flowing down- The volume of blood in an average adult amounts to
ward under the pull of gravity when an individual approximately 10.5 pints.
stands up. When he or she moves, the veins are
squeezed by the surrounding muscle, which helps
propel more blood toward the heart. Without valves TYPES OF BLOOD CELLS
in the veins, blood would pool in the legs, which
would then be perpetually swollen. The blood has two main components: cells of several
types and a solution called plasma, in which the cells
are suspended. The vast majority of blood cells are
erythrocytes, or red blood cells, which outnumber
THE PULMONARY CIRCULATION white blood cells by about 700 to 1 in the healthy
The main function of the pulmonary circulation is to adult. The major function of the red blood cells, of
deliver oxygen to the blood and free it of carbon diox- which there are about 25 trillion, is to transport ox-
ide. This goal is accomplished as the blood flows ygen. They contain the red pigment hemoglobin, a
through the lungs. The pressure in this part of the complex protein arranged around iron that carries
system is only about one-sixth as great as in the sys- oxygen and releases it whenever needed. Red cells
temic circulation, and the walls of pulmonary arteries are smaller than white cells and live three to four
and veins are significantly thinner than the walls of months. They are created at a rate of approximately
corresponding vessels in the rest of the body. 8 million a second to keep the supply constant.
In the pulmonary circulation, the roles of arteries The white blood cells are called leukocytes. There
and veins are the opposite of what they are in the are several types, which vary in size and shape, but
systemic circulation: Blood in the arteries has less all share the function of defending the body against
oxygen, while blood in the veins is oxygen-rich. The a wide variety of invading organisms. They are pro-
circuit starts with the pulmonary artery, which ex- duced in increased amounts in response to infection.
tends from the right ventricle and carries blood with The platelets are plate-shaped disks that, together
a low oxygen content to the lungs. In the lungs, it with special substances in the plasma, trigger the
branches off into the two arteries, one for each lung, blood-clotting mechanism and prevent an uncon-
and then into arterioles and capillaries. trollable loss of blood when the vessels are damaged.
The gas exchange between the air we breathe in
and the blood takes place in the pulmonary capillar-
ies. Their walls act like filters by allowing molecules THE PLASMA
of gas but not molecules of fluid to pass through. The
total surface area of the capillaries in the lungs ranges Plasma is a yellowish fluid that consists of 90 percent
from 500 to 1,000 square feet. water and various salts, glucose, cholesterol, pro-
The carbon dioxide and waste products are re- teins, etc. Proteins in the plasma perform a wide va-
moved from the blood in the pulmonary arteries riety of functions, from transporting molecules of
across capillary walls and leave the body through the nutrients to acting as antibodies in the immune re-
mouth and nose. The blood that has picked up oxygen sponse.
returns to the heart through four pulmonary veins
and into the left atrium.
CONTROL OF CARDIO-
THE BLOOD VASCULAR FUNCTION
The cardiovascular system plays an important role in
Blood is a life-sustaining fluid that helps maintain an maintaining homeostasis—that is, a stable environ-
optimum environment within the body by providing ment—inside the body. It can carry out, or signal
a constant supply of nutrients from the outside world other systems to carry out, rapid short-term adjust-
8
THE HEART AND CIRCULATION
ments in response to demands placed on the body by In response to changes, the nervous system issues
various human activities and changing external con- adjustment commands. Thus, if the receptors detect
ditions. For example, when blood supply to one area a decrease in oxygen and an increase in carbon diox-
is increased, the flow to other organs must be re- ide in the blood, t he brain sends a command to the
duced, or else the cardiac output has to be increased. respiratory center to increase the rate of respiration,
Throughout these adaptations, blood pressure must which delivers more oxygen to the lungs. At the same
remain constant to maintain the vital functions of all time, the brain issues impulses that accelerate the
body tissues. heart rate and constrict the veins. This brings more
To perform the adjustments, the cardiovascular blood to the lungs to be purified. As a result, an ad-
system communicates with other organs through a equate supply of oxygen to body tissues is ensured.
complex network of monitoring and signaling mech- Messages between the nervous and cardiovascu-
anisms. It sends out signals about its condition and, lar systems are relayed by chemicals called neuro-
in turn, receives messages that control its perfor- transmitters. These are chemicals that travel between
mance. The two main regulatory centers of cardio- cells and can provoke a response in the target tissue.
vascular function are the nervous system and the The neurotransmitter norepinephrine, an adrenaline-
kidneys. like substance, can increase the heart rate and force
of contractions, as well as constrict the blood vessels.
Thus, if we become frightened, more adrenaline is
released, more blood is pumped out by the heart to
THE NERVOUS SYSTEM muscles, and we become better able to run or react
if necessary. (This is called the “flight or fight” re-
The brain and other parts of the nervous system con- action.) In contrast, other neurotransmitters, such as
stantly monitor and control the heart and circulation. acetylcholine, slow down the heart.
They receive information about the cardiovascular
system through numerous receptors that generate
coded impulses describing the body’s internal envi-
ronment. Different kinds of receptors transmit infor- THE KIDNEYS
mation about the stretching of the arterial walls and The kidneys play an important role in regulating
the resulting changes in blood pressure or about the blood pressure. Because they influence the volume of
stretching of the heart chambers and the chemical fluids in the body, they can affect the pressure by
composition of blood. Little receptors in the carotid changing the volume of circulating blood. They also
arteries in the neck, for example, help to adjust heart release an enzyme called renin, which is converted
rate and the size of blood vessels in response to cer- into a powerful blood-pressure-elevating substance
tain activities. When we stand up suddenly and blood that constricts blood vessels and induces sodium and
pressure begins to decrease, these receptors sense a water retention. Delicate mechanisms allow the kid-
lack of pressure and send out signals to the heart to neys to adjust under a wide variety of situations. If
beat faster and the blood vessels to constrictor nar- we are deprived of water, for example, the kidneys
row down so that adequate blood pressure can be stop putting out urine; if we eat a lot of salt, the kid-
maintained. neys respond by putting out more urine.