The

primary function of the heart is to

pump blood through blood vessels to the
body's cells. Imagine a simple machine like a
water pump working for perhaps 70 or more
years without attention and without stopping.
Impossible? Yet this is exactly what the heart
can do in our bodies. The heart is really a
muscular bag surrounding four hollow
compartments, with a thin wall of muscle
separating the le
ft hand side from the right hand side. The
muscles in the heart are very strong because
they have to work harder than any of the
other muscles in our body, pushing the blood
to our head and feet continuously.
The blood flow around our body is called our
circulation. The heart connects the two major
portions of the circulation's continuous circuit,
the systemic circulation and the pulmonary
circulation. The blood vessels in the
pulmonary circulation carry the blood through
the lungs to pick up oxygen and get rid of
carbon dioxide, while the blood vessels in the
systemic circulation carry the blood
throughout the rest of our body (Figure 7).
Figure 8a. The cardiovascular system.

The heart actually has two separate sides,

one designed to pump deoxygenated blood
into the pulmonary circulation where the
blood becomes oxygenated, and one
designed to pump the oxygenated blood into
the systemic circulation where the blood flows
throughout the body (Figure 8a). Each side of
the heart has two chambers or
compartments. The top chamber on each side
is called the atrium. The right atrium receives
incoming deoxygenated blood from the body
and the left atrium receives incoming
oxygenated blood from the lungs. The thinwalled atrium on each side bulges as it fills
with blood, and as the lower heart muscle
relaxes, the atrium contracts and squeezes
the blood into a second chamber, the thick
muscular ventricle. The ventricle is the
pumping chamber that, with each muscular
contraction, pushes the blood forcefully out
and into the lungs (right ventricle) and the
rest of the body (left ventricle).
The atrium and ventricle on each side of the
heart are separated by tissue flaps called
valves. The structure of these valves prevents
blood from flowing backward into the atrium
as the ventricle squeezes blood out. The valve

on the right side, between the atrium and the

ventricle, is called the tricuspid valve. The
valve on the left side, between the atrium and
the ventricle, is called the bicuspid or mitral
valve. There are two other important valves
that help to keep the blood Rowing in the
proper direction. These two valves are located
at the two points where blood exits the heart.
The pulmonary valve is located between the
right ventricle and the pulmonary artery that
carries the deoxygenated blood from the
heart to the lungs, and the aortic valve is
located between the left ventricle and the
aorta, the major artery that carries the
oxygenated blood from the heart to the rest of
the body.
The arteries are the blood vessels that
transport blood out of the heart under high
pressure to the tissues. The arterioles are the
last small branch of the arterial system
through which blood is released into the
capillaries. The capillaries are very small, thinwalled blood vessels where the exchange of
gases, nutrients, and waste takes place
between the cells and the blood. Blood flows
with almost no resistance in the larger blood
vessels, but in the arterioles and capillaries,

considerable resistance to flow does occur

because these vessels are so small in
diameter that the blood must squeeze all its
contents through them. The venules collect
blood from the capillaries and gradually feed
into progressively larger veins. The veins
transport the blood from the tissues back to
the heart. The walls of the veins are thin and
very elastic and can fold or expand to act as a
reservoir for extra blood, if required by the
needs of the body.
Figure 8b. The path of a typical RBC through
the heart.
Let us follow a single red blood cell (RBC)
through one full cycle along the circulatory
pathway (Figure 8b). Remember that RBCs
carry oxygen throughout the body. Since the
blood travels endlessly, an arbitrary choice
must be made of a starting point to describe
the RBC's route. We will begin at the point
where the RBC has delivered its oxygen to a
cell in need and is on its return back to the
heart.
1. Once the deoxygenated red blood cell
(RBC) returns to the heart, it enters either
through the superior vana cava or the inferior

vena cava. The superior vena cava returns

deoxygenated blood from the upper part of
the body to the heart. The inferior vena cava
returns deoxygenated blood from the lower
part of the body to the heart. These large
veins lead into the right atrium.
2. The RBC passes through the tricuspid valve
into the right ventricle.
3. The RBC is then pumped through the
pulmonary valve into the pulmonary artery
and on to the lungs. There the RBC gives off
carbon dioxide and picks up oxygen.
4. The RBC returns to the heart through a
pulmonary vein, enters the left atrium, passes
through the mitral valve, and flows into the
left ventricle.
5. The left ventricle pumps the fully
oxygenated RBC through the aortic valve, into
the aorta, the body's main artery, and out to
the body.
6. From the aorta, the RBC flows into one of
the many arteries of the body, through the
arterioles, and then to the capillaries, where
the RBC will deliver oxygen and nutrients to
the cells and remove wastes and carbon
dioxide. Next it moves through the venules,
veins, and on to the vena cava in a

deoxygenated state, and returns to the heart,

only to begin its repetitive journey once again.
This whole process has taken approximately
20 seconds!