Circulatory System

The circulatory system is made up of the heart, blood and blood vessels known as arteries,
capillaries and veins. The heart pumps blood throughout your body through the blood vessels.
Blood delivers oxygen and nutrients to cells and carries away carbon dioxide and other waste
materials.
The Human Circulatory System and How it works
1. Heart:
Heart is of the size of the fist and is built with the muscles which is situated in the rib cage between
the lungs.
Chambers of the Heart:
It consists of four chambers of which upper two chambers are called as auricles and lower two
chambers as ventricles.
Auricles are divided as right and left auricles by a thin membrane know as intra auricular
membrane. Similarly ventricles are divided into right and left ventricles by a thick membrane called
as intraventricular membrane. Auricles and ventricles are separated by a auriculoventricular
membrane. Pacemakers namely sinoauricular node (SA node) and auriculoventricular node (AV
node) are present which stimulate the functioning of the heart.
Right auricle receives the deoxygentaed blood from various parts of the body. Oxygentaed blood
from lungs is brought to left auricle by the pulmonary vein. Deoxygentaed blood from right auricle is
pumped into right ventricle and this blood is pumped to lungs by the pulmonary artery. Oxygentaed
blood from left auricle is pumped to left ventricle and this blood is supplied to all body parts.
2. Blood Vessels:
Blood vessels are thin pipe like structures which supply the blood to the heart and receives impure
blood from body parts. Blood vessels are of two types namely arteries and veins.
Arteries:
Arteries supply oxygentaed blood from the left ventricle to all parts of the body. These arteries divide
into arterioles and end as capillaries in the cells. Pulmonary artery supplies deoxygenated blood from
right ventricle to lungs.

Veins:
Veins collect deoxygenated blood from all parts of the body. They start as capillaries, then to veinlets
and to larger veins finally. Pulmonary vein brings oxygenated blood from lungs to left auricle.
3. Blood:
Blood is a fluid connective tissue which is red in colour due to the presence of haemoglobin. Our
body contains 5-6 litres of blood. The main components of the blood are plasma and blood cells.
Plasma:
Plasma constitutes 55% of the blood and is light yellow coloured liquid containing water, salts and
plasma proteins.
Blood cells:
Blood cells constitute 45% of the blood. They float in plasma and are of three types. They are red
blood cells, white blood cells and blood platelets.
Red Blood Corpuscles:
They are also known as erythrocytes. RBC are round in shape and disc shaped with constriction in
the middle. They contain a pigment called as haemoglobin. They do not contain nucleus. The life
span of RBC is 120 days.
White Blood Corpuscles:
They are also known as leukocytes. They are of differenet shapes. WBC contains nucleus. WBC are
classified as granulocytes and agranulocytes based on the presence of granules in their cells. They do
not contain haemoglobin and hence are white in colour. They attack the microorganisms which enter
our body and protects us from diseases. Their lifespan is 12 days.
Agranulocytes:
Lymohocytes and monocytes belongs to agranulocytes as they do not contain granules in their cells.
Kidney shaped nucleus is present in them. Monocytes are called as macrophages.
Granulocytes:
Eosinophils (acidophils), basophils and neutrophils belong to granulocytes as they contain granules.
Their nucleus is lobed.

Blood platelets:
Blood platelets are called as thrombocytes and are small and oval in shape. They do not contain the
pigment and are white in colour. The life span is 3 -10 days. Blood platelets are useful for formation
of the blood clot during bleeding when wound occurs in the body.