LABORATORY

DISCUSSION [ EXPERIMENT 9: THE CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM ]

CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM
• Consists of three interrelated components: COMPONENTS OF BLOOD
I. BLOOD PLASMA
a. Blood
• Clear, straw-colored fluid
• Transport of blood gases, nutrients and hormones
• Composed of:
• Regulate body pH and temperature
Ø 91.5% Water
• Provides protection against disease
• Acts as solvent and suspending medium for components
b. Heart
of blood
• Pump blood through blood vessels to all body tissues
• Absorbs, transports and releases heat
c. Blood vessels
Ø 7% Proteins
• Provide the structure for the flow of blood to and from the
• Exert colloid osmotic pressure which helps maintain
heart
water balance between blood and tissues and regulates
• Exchange of nutrients and wastes in tissues
blood volume
• Adjusts the velocity and flow of blood flow
o Albumin (54%): smallest and most numerous blood
plasma, produced by the liver that functions as
BLOOD
transport protein
• A connective tissue composed of a liquid extracellular matrix called
o Globulin (38%): produced by liver and plasma cells
blood plasma that dissolves and suspends various cells and cell
that is essential in immunity mechanism
fragments
o Fibrinogen (7%): produced by the liver that plays an
• Complex transport medium that performs vital pickup and delivery
important role in blood clotting
services for the body
o Others 1%
• Keystone of thermoregulation
Ø 1.5% Other Solutes
• Physical Characteristics of Blood:
• Electrolytes: also help maintain osmotic pressure and
a. Viscosity: Denser and more viscous than water
play essential roles in the function of cells
b. Temperature: 38°C
• Nutrients: products of digestions (amino acids, glucose,
c. pH: Slightly alkaline
fatty acids and glycerol)
d. Volume: 5 – 6 Liters
• Gases: oxygen and carbon dioxide
• Components of Blood
• Regulatory substances: enzymes, hormones, vitamins
a. Plasma: 55%
• Waste products: urea, uric acid, creatine, creatinine,
b. Buffy Coat
bilirubin, and ammonia
c. Red Blood Cells: 45%

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 LABORATORY DISCUSSION [ EXPERIMENT 9: THE CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM ]

II. FORMED ELEMENTS OF THE BLOOD b. Eosinophils (2 – 4%)
A. RED BLOOD CELLS (ERYTHROCYTES) • Numerous in the lining of the respiratory and digestive
• Have no nucleus, ribosomes, mitochondria and other typical tracts
organelles • Weak phagocytes that ingest inflammatory chemicals and
• Primary component: HEMOGLOBIN proteins associated with antigen-antibody reactions
• 7 – 8 micrometers in diameter, biconcave disc in shape • Increased in parasitic infection and allergic reactions
• Formed via Erythropoiesis in the bone marrow c. Basophils (0.5 – 1%)
• Life span: 120 days • Granules contain histamine and heparin
• Normal Count: 4.8 – 5.4 million/μL • Increased in leukemias, cancers
• FUNCTION: Transport of Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide

AGRANULAR LEUKOCYTES (AGRANULOCYTES)

Key components:
o Possesses cytoplasmic granules but these are not visible under a
o Carbonic anhydrase: catalyze a reaction that joins carbon
microscope because of their small size
dioxide and water to form carbonic acid
a. Lymphocytes (20 – 25%)
o Carbonic Acid: dissociate and generates bicarbonate ions,
• Smallest of the WBCs and second most numerous
diffuse out of the RBC and serve as transport of CO2
• Life span: Months to years or even lasts a lifetime
o Hemoglobin: able to unite four oxygen molecules to form
• Types:
oxyhemoglobin allowing RBCs to transport oxygen
o T-Lymphocytes: directly attacks an infected cell or
B. WHITE BLOOD CELLS (LEUKOCYTES) cancerous cell
o B-Lymphocytes: produces antibodies against antigens
• Have nuclei and do not contain hemoglobin
• Increased in viral infections
• Can be classified as either Granular or Agranular
b. Monocytes (3 – 8%)
• Normal Count: 5,000 – 10,000/ μL
• Largest WBC, mobile and highly phagocytic cells
GRANULAR LEUKOCYTES (GRANULOCYTES)
o Conspicuous granules with distinctive coloration that can be • Increased in viral and fungal infections, tuberculosis
recognized under the microscope
C. PLATELETS (THROMBOCYTE)
a. Neutrophils (60 – 70%)
• Irregular spindles or oval disc playing an important role in
• Highly mobile and very active phagocytic cells
agglutination, adhesiveness and aggregation
• Granules contain lysosomes
• Normal Count: 150,000 – 400,000/μL
• Life span: only a few hours to a few days
• Life Span: 5 – 9 days
• ↑ in bacterial infections, stress, burns, and inflammation

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 LABORATORY DISCUSSION [ EXPERIMENT 9: THE CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM ]

HEART
• Located in the mediastinum
o About two-thirds of its mass is to the left of the midline
• Shaped like a cone lying on its side; its apex is the pointed inferior part
and the base lies just below the second rib
• Coverings of the Heart: Pericardium
a. Fibrous Pericardium: tough, loose-fitting inextensible sac
b. Serous Pericardium:
o Parietal layer lies inside the fibrous pericardium
o Pericardial space contains pericardial fluid to separate the two
layers
o Visceral layer adheres to the outside of the heart

ü Chambers of the Heart
a. Atria
o Superior chambers are known as the “receiving chambers”
because they receive blood from the veins
o Alternately contract and relax to receive blood and then push it
to the ventricles
o The myocardial wall of the atria is thin because not much
• Structure of the Heart:
pressure is needed to move blood
ü Wall of the Heart
o Auricle: earlike flap that protrudes from each atrium
a. Epicardium: outer layer of the heart wall
b. Ventricles
b. Myocardium:
o The two lower chambers are known as the “Pumping
o Thick, contractile middle layer of the heart wall
chambers” because they push blood into the large network of
o Compresses the heart cavities and the blood vessels within
blood vessels
them with great force
o Myocardial wall is thicker because a great force must be
c. Endocardium
generated to pump the blood to a large distance

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 LABORATORY DISCUSSION [ EXPERIMENT 9: THE CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM ]

ü Valves of the heart: mechanical devices that permit the flow of blood BLOOD VESSELS
in one direction only
BASIC STRUCTURE
a. Atrioventricular valves
1. TUNICA INTERNA (INTIMA)
1. Tricuspid Valve (Right AV Valve)
• Forms the inner lining of a blood vessels
o Prevent blood from flowing back into the atria from the
• In direct contact with blood as it flows through the lumen
ventricles when the ventricles contract
• Composed of:
o Guards the right atrioventricular orifice
o Simple squamous epithelium
o Free edges of three flaps of endocardium are attached to
o Basement membrane: physical support and provide resilience
papillary muscles by chordae tendinae
for stretching and recoil
2. Bicuspid Valve (Left AV Valve)
o Internal elastic lamina: facilitate diffusion of materials
o Similar in structure of a tricuspid valve only that it has two
• Found in all blood vessels; only layer for capillaries
flaps
b. Semilunar Valve 2. TUNICA MEDIA
• Half-moon shaped flaps growing out from the lining of the • Muscular and connective tissue layers that displays the greatest
pulmonary artery and aorta that prevents blood from flowing variation among the different vessel types
back into the ventricles from the aorta and pulmonary artery • Smooth muscle cells regulates the diameter of the lumen and
1. Pulmonary Semilunar Valve: valve at the entrance of the therefore regulating the rate of blood flow in throughout the
pulmonary artery body
2. Aortic Semilunar Valve: valve at the entrance of the aorta • Found in arteries and veins

c. Skeleton of the Heart 3. TUNICA EXTERNA
• Set of connected rings that serve as semi-rigid support for the • Consists of elastic and collagen fibers
heart valves and for the attachment of cardiac muscles • Contains numerous nerves and tiny blood vessels that supply the
• Serves as an electrical barrier between the myocardium of the vessel wall called vasa vasorum
atria and that of the ventricles • Helps anchor the blood vessels to the surrounding tissues

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 LABORATORY DISCUSSION [ EXPERIMENT 9: THE CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM ]

c. Arterioles (resistance vessels)
o Smallest arteries
o Regulates flow to organs
d. Metarterioles
o Short connecting vessel between true arteriole and 20-
100 capillaries
o Encircled by precapillary sphincters
o Thoroughfare Channel: the distal end free of
precapillary sphincters

II. CAPILLARIES
• Microscopic vessels that carry blood from arterioles to venules
which constitute the microcirculation
• Not evenly distributed: highest number in tissues with high
metabolic rate or may even be absent in some tissues such as
cartilages
• Types of Capillaries
TYPES OF BLOOD VESSELS 1. True Capillaries: receive blood flowing from metarteriole with
I. ARTERIES: carry blood away from the heart input regulated by pracepillary sphincters
• All carry oxygenated blood EXCEPT the pulmonary artery 2. Continuous Capillaries: continuous lining of endothelial cells
• Types of Arteries containing openings in between called “Intercellular clefts”
a. Elastic Arteries: largest in the body 3. Fenestrated Capillaries: have both intercellular clefts and
o Able to stretch without injury “holes” or fenestrations through plasma membrane to
o Accommodate surge of blood when heart contracts and facilitate exchange functions
able to recoil when ventricles relax 4. Sinusoids: large lumen and tortuous course having an
o Examples: aorta and its major branches incomplete or absent basement membrane
b. Muscular (Distributing) Arteries o Very porous to permit migration of cells into or out of the
o Smaller in diameter than elastic arteries vessel lumen
o Muscular layer is thick
o Examples: brachial, gastric, superior mesenteric

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 LABORATORY DISCUSSION [ EXPERIMENT 9: THE CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM ]

III. VEINS BLOOD FLOW THROUGH THE HEART
• Carry blood toward the heart • The pumping action of the heart consists of contraction and relaxation
• Act as collectors and as reservoir vessels of the myocardial layer of the heart wall.
• Systemic veins are collectively called blood reservoirs because • During relaxation, termed diastole, blood fills the chambers. The
they hold a large volume of blood. If the need arises, this blood contraction that follows, termed systole, forces the blood from the
can be shifted into other blood vessels through vasoconstriction chamber into the pulmonary, or systemic, circulation.
• Principal blood reservoirs: 1. During diastole, blood from the veins of the systemic circulation
o Veins of the abdominal organs enters the thin-walled ____________________ from the superior
o Skin vena cava and the inferior vena cava.
• “Capacitance vessels” 2. Venous blood from the coronary circulation enters the right atrium
• Contains valves to prevent backflow of blood through the ____________________. The right atrium fills, and its
• Venules: small vessels that continue from capillaries and merge to fluid pressure pushes open the right atrioventricular (AV), or
form veins tricuspid valve, to fill the ____________________. Flow and
contraction occur a fraction of a second earlier in the left heart.
THE PULMONARY AND SYSTEMIC CIRCUITS 3. Unoxygenated blood leaves the right ventricle via the
1. Pulmonary Circuit ____________________ into the pulmonary artery to deliver the
• The right side of the heart receives oxygen-poor blood from body blood to the lungs, where it is oxygenated.
tissues and then pumps this blood to the lungs to pick up oxygen 4. The four pulmonary veins, two from the right lung and two from the
and dispel carbon dioxide
left lung, carry oxygenated blood from the pulmonary circulation to
2. Systemic Circuit the ____________________. As the left atrium fills, its fluid
• The left side of the heart receives the oxygenated blood returning pressure pushes the cusps of the mitral valve open, and blood flows
from the lungs and pumps this blood throughout the body to supply into the ____________________.
oxygen and nutrients to body tissues
5. From the left ventricle, blood flows via the aortic semilunar valve

into the ____________________ for systemic circulation. Blood
circulates from the left ventricle and returns to the right atrium
because of a progressive fall in pressure from the left ventricle to
the right atrium of approximately ____________________. Blood

always flows from a higher-pressure area toward a lower-pressure

area.

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FOCUS Blood Flow through the Heart
Focus Figure 18.1 The heart is a double pump, each side supplying
its own circuit.

Oxygen-poor blood
Oxygen-rich blood

Tricuspid Pulmonary
Superior vena cava (SVC) valve semilunar valve
Right Right Pulmonary
Inferior vena cava (IVC)
atrium ventricle trunk
Coronary sinus

Pulmonary
arteries
SVC
Coronary
sinus Pulmonary
trunk

Right Tricuspid
atrium valve Pulmonary
semilunar
valve
Right
IVC ventricle

Oxygen-poor blood is carried

Oxygen-poor blood in two pulmonary arteries to
To heart returns from the body To lungs
the lungs (pulmonary circuit)
tissues back to the heart. to be oxygenated.

Systemic Pulmonary
capillaries capillaries

Oxygen-rich blood is Oxygen-rich blood returns

To body delivered to the body to the heart via the four To heart
tissues (systemic circuit). pulmonary veins.

Aorta Pulmonary
veins

Aortic Left
semilunar Mitral atrium
valve valve

Left
ventricle

Aortic Mitral
semilunar valve Left valve Left Four
Aorta ventricle atrium pulmonary
veins

694 Reference:
Marieb, E. & Hoehn, K. (2016). Human anatomy and physiology (10th ed.)[PDF]. USA: Pearson Education, Inc.
 LABORATORY DISCUSSION [ EXPERIMENT 9: THE CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM ]

RELATIONSHIP OF LYMPHATIC VESSELS TO BLOOD VESSELS
• Lymphatic vessels, lymph nodes, and lymph make up the lymphatic system
o Lymphatic vessels return fluids that have leaked from the blood
vascular system back to the blood
• Lymphatic vessels form a one-way network (lymphatic capillaries, collecting
vessels, trunks, and ducts) in which fluid flows only toward the heart
o The ____________________ drains lymph from the right arm and right
side of the upper body; the _______________ receives lymph from the
rest of the body → These ducts empty into the blood vascular system
at the junction of the ________________________________________
o Lymphatic capillaries are exceptionally permeable, admitting proteins
and particulate matter from the interstitial space
• The flow of lymphatic fluid is slow; it is maintained by skeletal muscle
contraction, pressure changes in the thorax, and contractions of the
lymphatic vessels; valves prevent backflow
• Lymphoid organs and tissues protect the body by removing foreign material
from the lymph and bloodstream, and provide a site for immune
surveillance
o Overview of the Immune System
Natural/Innate Acquired/Adaptive
First Line Second Line Third Line
External Components Internal Components
Physical factors: Cellular: Cellular:
o Intact skin, mucous o WBCs o Lymphocytes (i.e. T
membranes, cilia, o NK cells cells and B cells)
cough reflex o Antigen Presenting

Humoral/Biochemical:
Cells (APCs)

Biochemical: o Cytokines such as

o Secretions: sweat, interferons and Humoral:
tears, saliva, mucus interleukins o Cytokines
o Very low pH of vagina o Complement o Antibodies
and stomach o Complement

Processes:
Physiologic factors: o Phagocytosis
o pH, body o Inflammation
temperature, O2
tension, hormonal
balance, age

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