The main components of the human cardiovascular system are the heart and blood vessels.

It includes: the pulmonary circulation, a "loop" through the lungs where blood is oxygenated; and the systemic circulation, a "loop" through the rest of the body to provide oxygenated blood. An average adult contains five to six quarts (roughly 4.7 to 5.7 liters) of blood, which consists of plasma, red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Also, the digestive system works with the circulatory system to provide the nutrients the system needs to keep the heart pumping.

HEART

The heart is a muscular organ that provides a continuous blood circulation through the cardiac cycle and is one of the most vital organs in the human body. The heart is divided into four main chambers: the two upper chambers are called the left and right atria and two lower chambers are called the right and left ventricles. There is a thick wall of muscle separating the right side and the left side of the heart called the septum. Normally with each beat the right ventricle pumps the same amount of blood into the lungs that the left ventricle pumps out into the body. The electric energy that stimulates the heart occurs in the sinoatrial node, which produces a definite potential and then discharges, sending an impulse across the atria. In the atria the electrical signal moves from cell to cell while in the ventricles the signal is carried by specialized tissue called the Purkinje fibers which then transmit the electric charge to the myocardium.

ANATOMY of the heart

The human heart has a mass of between 250 and 350 grams and is about the size of a fist. It is enclosed in a double-walled protective sac called the pericardium. The superficial part of this sac is called the fibrous pericardium. The fibrous pericardial sac is itself lined with the outer layer of the serous pericardium (known as the parietal pericardium). This composite (fibrous-parietal-pericardial) sac protects the heart, anchors its surrounding structures, and prevents overfilling of the heart with blood. The inner layer also provides a smooth

lubricated sliding surface within which the heart organ can move in response to its own contractions and to movement of adjacent structures such as the diaphragm and lungs. The outer wall of the human heart is composed of three layers. The outer layer is called the epicardium, or visceral pericardium since it is also the inner wall of the (serous) pericardium. The middle layer is called the myocardium and is composed of muscle which contracts. The inner layer is called the endocardium and is in contact with the blood that the heart pumps. Also, it merges with the inner lining (endothelium) of blood vessels and covers heart valves. The human heart has four chambers, two superior atria and two inferior ventricles. The atria are the receiving chambers and the ventricles are the discharging chambers. The pathways of blood through the human heart are part of the pulmonary and systemic circuits. These pathways include the tricuspid valve, the mitral valve, the aortic valve, and the pulmonary valve. The mitral and tricuspid valves are classified as the atrioventricular (AV) valves. This is because they are found between the atria and ventricles. The aortic and pulmonary semi-lunar valves separate the left and right ventricle from the pulmonary artery and the aorta respectively. These valves are attached to the chordae tendinae (literally the heartstrings), which anchors the valves to the papilla muscles of the heart. The interatrioventricular septum separates the left atrium and ventricle from the right atrium and ventricle, dividing the heart into two functionally separate and anatomically distinct units.

PHYSIOLOGY of the heart

Blood flows through the heart in one direction, from the atria to the ventricles, and out of the great arteries, or the aorta for example. Blood is prevented from flowing backwards by the tricuspid, bicuspid, aortic, and pulmonary valve. The heart acts as a double pump. The function of the right side of the heart is to collect de-oxygenated blood, in the right atrium, from the body (via superior and inferior vena cavae) and pump it, via the right ventricle, into the lungs (pulmonary circulation) so that carbon dioxide can be dropped off and oxygen picked up (gas exchange). This happens through the passive process of diffusion. The left side collects oxygenated blood from the lungs into the left atrium. From the left atrium the blood moves to the left ventricle which pumps it out to the body (via the aorta). On both sides, the lower ventricles are thicker and stronger than the upper atria. The muscle wall surrounding the left ventricle is thicker than the wall surrounding the right ventricle due to the higher force needed to pump the blood through the systemic circulation. Starting in the right atrium, the blood flows through the tricuspid valve to the right ventricle. Here, it is pumped out of the pulmonary semilunar valve and travels through the pulmonary artery to the lungs. From there, blood flows back through the pulmonary vein to the left atrium. It then travels through the mitral valve to the left ventricle, from where it is pumped through the aortic semilunar valve to the aorta and to the rest of the body. The (relatively) deoxygenated blood finally returns to the heart through the inferior vena cava and superior vena cava, and enters the right atrium where the process began.

BLOOD VESSELS

The arteries and veins have different structures, veins having two layers and arteries having three: y Tunica intima (the thinnest layer): a single layer of simple squamous endothelial cells glued by a polysaccharide intercellular matrix, surrounded by a thin layer of subendothelial connective tissue interlaced with a number of circularly arranged elastic bands called the internal elastic lamina. Tunica media (the thickest layer): circularly arranged elastic fiber, connective tissue, polysaccharide substances, the second and third layer are separated by another thick elastic band called external elastic lamina. The tunica media may (especially in arteries) be rich in vascular smooth muscle, which controls the caliber of the vessel. Tunica adventitia: entirely made of connective tissue. It also contains nerves that supply the vessel as well as nutrient capillaries (vasa vasorum) in the larger blood vessels.

There are various kinds of blood vessels: y Arteries  Aorta (the largest artery, carries blood out of the heart)  Branches of the aorta, such as the carotid artery, the subclavian artery, the celiac trunk, the mesenteric arteries, the renal artery and the iliac artery. Arterioles Capillaries Venules Veins  Large collecting vessels, such as the subclavian vein, the jugular vein, the renal vein and the iliac vein.  Venae cavae (the 2 largest veins, carry blood into the heart)

y y y y

Coronary circulation
Coronary circulation is the circulation of blood in the blood vessels of the heart muscle (the myocardium). The vessels that deliver oxygen-rich blood to the myocardium are known as coronary arteries. The vessels that remove the deoxygenated blood from the heart muscle are known as cardiac veins.

Systemic circulation
Arteries
Oxygenated blood enters the systemic circulation when leaving the left ventricle, through the aortic semilunar valve. The first part of the systemic circulation is the aorta, a massive and thick-walled artery. The aorta arches and branches into major arteries to the upper body before passing through the diaphragm, where it branches further into arteries which supply the lower parts of the body.

Capillaries
Gas exchange takes between blood and tissues takes place in the capillaries.

Veins
After their passage through body tissues, capillaries merge once again into venules, which continue to merge into veins. The venous system finally coalesces into two major veins: the superior vena cava (roughly speaking draining the areas above the heart) and the inferior vena cava (roughly speaking from areas below the heart). These two great vessels empty into the right atrium of the heart.

Pulmonary circulation
Right heart
Oxygen-depleted blood from the body leaves the systemic circulation when it enters the right heart, more specifically the right atrium through the superior (upper) vena cava and inferior (lower) vena cava. The blood is then pumped through the tricuspid valve (or right atrioventricular valve), into the right ventricle. Blood is then pumped through the semilunar valve and into the pulmonary artery.

Pulmonary arteries
From the right ventricle, blood is pumped through the pulmonary semilunar valve into the left and right pulmonary arteries (one for each lung) and travels through the lungs.

Lungs
The pulmonary arteries carry deoxygenated blood to the lungs, where it releases carbon dioxide and pick up oxygen during respiration. Arteries are further divided in to very fine branches called the capillaries. In structure the capillaries are very thin walled. Their function is to carry blood to all cells of the body.

Pulmonary Veins
The oxygenated blood then leaves the lungs through pulmonary veins, which return it to the left heart, completing the pulmonary cycle. This blood then enters the left atrium, which pumps it through the bicuspid valve, also called the mitral or left atrioventricular valve, into the left ventricle. The blood is then distributed to the body through the systemic circulation before returning again to the pulmonary circulation.