CIRCULATORY SYSTEM

The circulatory system is a vast network

of organs and vessels that is
responsible for the flow of blood,
nutrients, hormones, oxygen and other
gases to and from cells. Without the
circulatory system, the body would not
be able to fight disease or maintain a
stable internal environment — such as
proper temperature and pH — known as
homeostasis.
The main organ of the circulatory
system is the Human Heart. The other
main parts of the circulatory system
include the Arteries, Arterioles,
Capillaries, Venules, Veins and Blood.
The lungs also play a major part in the
pulmonary circulation system.

FUNCTIONS
 The function of a humans
circulatory system is to transport
blood around the body. The
blood itself also carries
numerous other substances
which the body requires to
function.
 The main substance being
Oxygen, carried by a protein
called haemoglobin, found inside
red blood cells. White blood cells
are also vital in their role of
fighting disease and infection.
Blood contains platelets which
are essential for clotting the
blood, which occurs following an injury to stop blood loss. Blood also
carries waste products, such as Carbon Dioxide away from muscles and
organs in order to be dispelled by the lungs.

STRUCTURE OF CIRCULATORY SYSTEM

A. HEART:

 The heart is the key organ in the circulatory system. As a hollow, muscular
pump, its main function is to propel blood throughout the body. It usually
 beats from 60 to 100 times per minute, but can go much faster when it
needs to.

 The heart has four chambers that

are enclosed by thick, muscular
walls. It lies between the lungs and
just to the left of the middle of the
chest cavity. The bottom part of
the heart is divided into two
chambers: the right ventricle and
the left ventricle. These pump
blood out of the heart. A wall
called the interventricular septum
divides the ventricles.

 The upper part of the heart is made up of the other two chambers of the
heart: the right atrium and the left atrium. The atria receive the blood
entering the heart. A wall called the interatrial (pronounced: in-tur-AY-tree-
ul) septum divides the atria, and they're separated from the ventricles by
the atrioventricular valves. The tricuspid valve separates the right atrium
from the right ventricle, and the mitral valve separates the left atrium and
the left ventricle.

B. BLOOD VESSELS:

ARTERIES: Blood vessels carrying blood away from the heart are
called arteries. They are the thickest blood vessels, with muscular walls that
contract to keep the blood moving away from the heart and through the body.

ARTERIOLES: As the arteries get farther from the heart, the arteries branch
out into arterioles, which are smaller and less flexible and finally leads into a
capillary.
VEINS: A vein is an elastic blood vessel that transports blood from various
regions of the body to the heart. Veins are components of the cardiovascular
system, which circulates blood to provide nutrients to the cells of the body.
Unlike the high pressure arterial system, the venous system is a low pressure
system that relies on muscle contractions to return blood to the heart.
Sometimes vein problems can occur, most commonly due to either a blood clot
or a vein defect.
Veins can be categorized into four main types: pulmonary, systemic,
superficial, and deep veins.
• Pulmonary veins carry oxygenated blood
from the lungs to the left atrium of the heart.
• Systemic veins return oxygen-depleted
blood from the rest of the body to the right atrium of
the heart.
• Superficial veins are located close to the
surface of the skin and are not located near a
corresponding artery.
• Deep veins are located deep within muscle
tissue and are typically located near a
corresponding artery with the same name (for
example coronary arteries and veins).
VEIN PROBLEMS
Vein problems are typically the result of a
blockage or defect. Blockages occur due
to blood clots that develop in either
superficial veins or deep veins, most often
in the legs or arms. Blood clots develop
when blood cells known as platelets or
thrombocytes become activated due to a
vein injury or disorder. Blood clot formation
and vein swelling in superficial veins is
called superficial thrombophlebitis. In the
word thrombophlebitis, thrombo refers to
platelets and phlebitis means
inflammation. A clot that occurs in deep
veins is called deep vein thrombosis.
Vein problems can also arise from a defect. Varicose veins are the result of
damaged vein valves that allow blood to pool in the veins. The accumulation of
blood causes inflammation and bulging in the veins located near the skin's
surface. Varicose veins typically appear in pregnant women, in individuals with
deep vein thrombosis or vein injuries, and in those with a genetic family history.

VENULES: A venule is a very small

blood vessel in the microcirculation
that allows blood to return from the
capillary beds to drain into the larger
blood vessels, the veins. Venules
range from 7μm to 1mm in diameter.
Veins contain approximately 70% of
total blood volume, 25% of which is
contained in the venules. Many
venules unite to form a vein.

CAPILLARIES: Capillaries are the smallest of blood vessels. They serve to

distribute oxygenated blood from arteries to the tissues of the body and to feed
deoxygenated blood from the tissues back into the veins. The capillaries are
thus a central component in the circulatory system, essentially between the
arteries and the veins. When pink areas of skin are compressed, this causes
blanching because blood is pressed out of the capillaries. The blood is the fluid
in the body that contains, among other elements, the red bloodcells
(erythrocytes) that carry the oxygen and give the blood its red color.

 TYPES
There are three types of blood capillaries:
Continuous: Continuous capillaries are continuous in the sense that the
endothelial cells provide an uninterrupted lining, and they only allow smaller
molecules, such as water and ions to pass through their intercellular clefts.
However, lipid-soluble molecules can passively diffuse through the endothelial
cell membranes along concentration gradients. Tight junctions can be further
divided into two subtypes:
1. Those with numerous transport vesicles, which are found primarily in
skeletal muscles, fingers, gonads, and skin.
2. Those with few vesicles, which are primarily found in the central nervous
system. These capillaries are a constituent of the blood–brain barrier.

Fenestrated: Fenestrated (derived from fenestra, Latin for "window")

capillaries have pores in the endothelial cells (60–80 nm in diameter) that are
spanned by a diaphragm of radially oriented fibrils and allow small molecules
and limited amounts of protein to diffuse. In the renal glomerulus there are cells
with no diaphragms, called podocyte foot processes or pedicels, which have slit
pores with a function analogous to the diaphragm of the capillaries. Both of
these types of blood vessels have continuous basal laminae and are primarily
located in the endocrine glands, intestines, pancreas, and the glomeruli of the
kidney.

Sinusoidal (discontinuous): Sinusoidal capillaries (also known as a

discontinuous capillary) are a special type of open-pore capillary, that have
larger openings (30–40 µm in diameter) in the endothelium. These types of
blood vessels allow red and white blood cells (7.5 µm – 25 µm diameter) and
various serum proteins to pass, aided by a discontinuous basal lamina. These
capillaries lack pinocytotic vesicles, and therefore utilize gaps present in cell
junctions to permit transfer between endothelial cells, and hence across the
membrane. Sinusoid blood vessels are primarily located in the bone marrow,
lymph nodes, and adrenal glands. Some sinusoids are distinctive in that they do
not have the tight junctions between cells. They are called discontinuous
sinusoidal capillaries, and are present in the liver and spleen, where greater
movement of cells and materials is necessary. A capillary wall is only 1 cell thick
and is simple squamous epithelium.
BLOOD
The circulatory system is made up of the heart, blood and blood vessels. Blood
is the fluid that flows in the circulatory system and carries substances around
the body.
Blood is composed of a straw-coloured fluid, plasma, and huge numbers of
blood cells that float in the plasma.

The average human body contains about 4 to 5 liters of blood. As a liquid

connective tissue, it transports many substances through the body and helps to
maintain homeostasis of nutrients, wastes, and gases. Blood is made up of red
blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, and liquid plasma.
BLOOD COMPONENTS
Blood is made of a liquid called plasma and blood
cells that float in plasma. If the test tube of blood is
left to stand for a while, the blood cells will sink to the
bottom of the test tube and separate from the plasma
which is a clear yellow liquid. There are 55% of
plasma and 45% of blood cells in your blood. Blood
plasma carries three types of blood cells: red blood
cells, white blood cells and platelets. They have
different shapes and carry out different functions.
When blood reaches the lungs, gas exchange occurs when carbon dioxide is
diffused out of the blood and oxygen is diffused from the alveoli into the blood.
This oxygenated blood is pumped to the left hand side of the heart in the
pulmonary vein and enters the left atrium. From here it passes through the mitral
valve, through the ventricle and it is pumped all around the body by the heart

Blood contains antibodies, nutrients, oxygen and much more to help the body
work.
RED BLOOD CELLS
Red blood cells (also called erythrocytes) look like
flattened basketballs. Most of the cells in the blood
are red blood cells. Red blood cells are the most
common type of blood cell. Red blood cells transport
oxygen from the lungs to the body's cells, where is
used in respiration. They carry around an important
chemical called hemoglobinthat gives blood its red
color. It contains Haemoglobin (which is a special
pigment that combines with oxygen). It has disc-shaped, with a dent on each
side to create a large surface area for gas exchange. There is no nuclear in the
red blood cells, therefore, there will be more space for Haemoglobin and so
more oxygen.

WHITE BLOOD CELSS

White blood cells (also called leukocytes) are bigger
than red blood cells. There are usually not a whole lot
of white blood cells floating around in your blood when
you're healthy. Once you get sick, though, your body
makes some more to protect you. White blood cells are
the largest type of blood cell. They have a large
nucleus and can change their shape. White blood cells
protect the body from disease by fighting invading
microbes that can cause infection. Some white blood
cells fight against infection by surrounding invading microbes and then digesting
them. Other white blood cells produce antibodies or antitoxins to fight against
infection.
There are a couple types of white blood cells that do different things to keep you
well:
GRANULOCYTES
Do you know how your skin gets a little red and swollen around a cut or scratch?
That means that the granulocytes are doing their job. They have a lot to do with
the way your body cleans things up and helps heal wounds after an injury.
Granulocytes also help prevent infection by surrounding and destroying things
that should not be in your body and killing germs.
LYMPHOCYTES
There are two types of lymphocytes: B cells and T cells. B cells help create
special proteins called antibodies that recognize substances that should not be
in your body, such as bacteria or a virus that you get from a sick friend. The
antibodies are very specific and can only recognize a certain type of germ. Once
the antibody finds it, it gets rid of the germ so it can not hurt you.
Best of all, even after being better, B cells can become memory cells that
remember how to create the special antibody, so if the same germ infects it
again, it can kill the germ even more. Quick! T cells also fight against the germs
that invade the body, but instead of producing antibodies, they work by
producing special chemicals that help fight the infection.
MONOCYTES
Monocytes are white blood cells that fight infections by surrounding and
destroying bacteria and viruses.

BLOOD CELLS
A drop of blood contains millions of red cells, and each cell contains 250 million
molecules of a substance called haemoglobin. In the lungs, oxygen binds to
haemoglobin, but in the tissues the oxygen is released again.

BLOOD CLOTTING
If a blood vessel is damaged, a clot forms to stop blood leaking. First, platelets
stick together to form a plug that stops the leak. At the same time, a complex
sequence of chemical events in the blood leads to the production of long strands
of a protein called fibrin. These bind the blood cells and debris together to form
a gel-like clot that gradually solidifies. The solid clot remains until the blood
vessel has been repaired.

Platelets: Platelets or thrombocytes

are small cytoplasmic fragments,
irregular, lacking a nucleus.
Its diameter ranges from 2-3, it is
derived from the fragmentation of its
precursor cells, megakaryocytes; the
average life of a platelet oscillates
between 8 and 12 days. These
circulate in the blood of all mammals
and are involved in hemostasis,
initiating the formation of clots or
thrombi.
If the number of platelets is too low, it can cause excessive bleeding. On the
other hand if the number of platelets is too high, blood clots can form and cause
thrombosis, which can clog the blood vessels and cause a stroke, acute
myocardial infarction, pulmonary embolism and blockage of blood vessels in
any other body part.
Any abnormality or disease of the platelets is called thrombocytopathy, which
may consist of either having a reduced number of platelets (thrombocytopenia),
a deficit in function (thromboastenia) or an increase in the number
(thrombocytosis).

Hemostasis:
Hemostasis in the normal physiological response
that prevents significant blood loss after vascular
injury. It depends on a series of events in which
platelets and other cells participate, and in which
the activation of specific blood proteins, called
coagulation factors, occurs.
When a lesion occurs in the blood vessels, the
physiological hemostasis is activated and the
following sequence of events takes place:
• The vessel is constricted to reduce blood flow.
• Circulating platelets adhere to the vessel wall in the area of trauma.
• Platelets are activated and added.
• There is an intricate series of enzymatic reactions involving the coagulation
proteins.
• Fibrin is produced to form a stable hemostatic plug.

Plasma: Plasma is a transparent,

slightly yellowish fluid that represents
55% of the total blood volume. This
plasma is the liquid and acellular
fraction of the blood. The blood cells
are suspended in the plasma: red
blood cells, white blood cells and
platelets. It consists of 90% water, 7%
protein, and the remaining 3% fat,
glucose, vitamins, hormones, oxygen,
carbon dioxide and nitrogen, as well
as metabolic waste products such as
uric acid that veil for the proper functioning of our body. Of the 5 liters of blood
that an average person weighs 70 kilos, about 3 liters are plasma.
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