The Circulatory System

• The circulatory system moves nutrients, gases, and

wastes to and from cells
• Single-celled organisms obtain oxygen and
nutrients directly across the surface of the cell
• Multi-cellular organisms require methods for
transporting materials to and from cells which are
far removed from the external environment
 Invertebrate Circulatory Systems
• Sponges and most Cnidarians use water from the
environment as a circulatory fluid.

• Pseudocoelomate invertebrates e.g., roundworms use

the fluids of the body cavity for circulation
(gastrovascular cavity).

• Larger animals have tissues that are several cells thick,

such that many cells are too far away from the body
surface or digestive cavity to exchange materials with
the environment.
• In Cnidarians, respiration occurs via diffusion directly through
their tissues
• A gastrovascular cavity is used for digestion and transport
Invertebrate Circulatory Systems
 Invertebrate Circulatory Systems
• Open circulatory system
No distinction between blood and the interstitial fluid such as
hemolymph
– Most Molluscs and Arthropods
– A tubular muscle, or heart, pumps hemolymph through a
network of channels and body cavities, before draining back
to the central cavity
– Hemolymph directly
bathes the internal
organs
 The Circulatory System
• Closed circulatory system
The circulating fluid, or blood, is enclosed
within blood vessels that transport it away
from – and back to – the heart
– All vertebrates, cephalopod molluscs, and annelids
– Consists of
heart, blood
vessels and
blood
Vertebrate Circulatory Systems

Surface area
as the physiological complexity
of animals increases, so too is the
need for more surface area to
transport and exchange nutrients
and oxygen (and remove CO2
and metabolic wastes)
 Vertebrate Circulatory Systems
• Fish evolved a 2-chambered heart to increase
efficiency of gas exchange in gills

First to contract 2.

1. 4.
3.
 Vertebrate Circulatory Systems
• The evolution of lungs in amphibians involved a major
change in the pattern of circulation – a second pumping
circuit
• After blood is pumped from the heart through pulmonary
arteries to the lungs, it is returned to the heart via
pulmonary veins
– Double circulation – gives boost to speed/pressure at
which blood is transported to the rest of the body
– Pulmonary circulation moves blood between the heart
and lungs; Systemic circulation moves blood between
the heart and the rest of the body
The Frog circulatory system
• Frogs have a closed circulatory
system that is broken into two
loops:
• Pulmonary circulation: blood is
pumped from the heart to the
lungs & back to the heart
• Systemic circulation: blood is
pumped from the heart to the
rest of the body & back again
 Heart
1b. 2a.
1. Deoxygenated
blood from body
is pumped
through the heart
and to the lungs 1a. 2b.
2. Oxygenated
blood is returned
to heart to be
pumped to rest
of the body
 Vertebrate Circulatory Systems
• Amphibians and most reptiles have a
3-chambered heart
– 2 atria and 1 ventricle
– Some mixing of oxygenated and deoxygenated
blood
• Right atrium receives deoxygenated blood from the
systemic circulation, and the left atrium receives
oxygenated blood (pulmonary) from the lungs – no
mixing in the atria
• Separation of pulmonary and systemic incomplete in
ventricle
 Amphibian and Reptilian
Circulation
• Amphibians obtain additional oxygen via
diffusion through their (moist) skin
• Reptiles have a septum that partially
subdivides the ventricle
– Separation is complete in Crocodilians (septum
divides ventricle into 2 separate ventricles; a 4-
chambered heart)
– Further reduces mixing of blood in the heart
– Atria receive blood returning to the heart
– Ventricles pump blood out of the heart
• While it might appear to waste the opportunity to keep
oxygenated and deoxygenated bloods separate, the
ventricle is divided into narrow chambers that reduce the
mixing of the two blood.
• So when the ventricle contracts:
 oxygenated blood from the left atrium is sent into the
carotid arteries taking blood to the head (and brain);
 deoxygenated blood from the right atrium is sent,
relatively pure, to the pulmocutaneous arteries taking
blood to the skin and lungs where fresh oxygen can be
picked up.
• Only the blood passing into the aortic arches has been
thoroughly mixed, but even so it contains enough oxygen
to supply the needs of the rest of the body.
• Note, that in contrast to the fish, both the gas exchange
organs and the interior tissues of the body get their blood
under full pressure.
 Mammalian and Avian (and Crocodilian)
Circulatory Systems
• Oxygenated and deoxygenated blood does not mix;
completely separated
– 4-chambered heart: 2 atria, 2 ventricles
– Right atrium receives deoxygenated blood from the
body and delivers it to the right ventricle which pumps
it to the lungs (pulmonary); the left atrium receives
oxygenated blood from the lungs and delivers it to the
left ventricle, which pumps it to the rest of the body
(systemic)

pulmonary systemic
RA  RV  LUNGS  LA  LV  THE REST OF BODY
 1b.
2a.

1a.
2b.

1. Deoxygenated blood from body is pumped through the heart and to lungs
2. Oxygenated blood is returned to heart to be pumped to rest of the body
 Mammalian and Avian (and
Crocodilian) Circulatory Systems
• The sinus venosus is present, but reduced, in
amphibians and (further reduced) in reptiles
• In mammals and birds, the sinus venosus is
present only as a remnant of tissue in the wall
of the right atrium = sinoatrial (SA) node
– Pacemaker, site where the impulses that initiate the
heartbeat originate
 The Four-Chambered Heart
• The heart functions as a two-cycle pump
– Both atria fill with blood and simultaneously
contract, emptying the blood into the ventricles
(atrial contraction)
– Both ventricles also contract at the same time,
pushing blood into the pulmonary and systemic
circulations (ventral contraction)

pulmonary systemic
RA  RV  LUNGS  LA  LV  REST OF BODY
 The Four-Chambered Heart
• The cardiac cycle includes the atrial and ventricular
contraction, and the resting period between these two
• Atrioventricular (AV) valves maintain unidirectional
flow between the atria and the ventricles: tricuspid
(right) and bicuspid (left)
• Semilunar valves maintain unidirectional flow out of
the ventricles to the arterial systems
– Pulmonary valve located at exit of the right ventricle
– Aortic valve located at the exit of the left ventricle
– Valves open and close as the heart goes through its cycle
 The Four-Chambered Heart: Diastole
(resting) phase
• Blood returns to the resting heart through veins that
empty into the right and left atria
• As blood fills the atria and pressure rises, the AV
valves open and blood flows into the ventricles
• The ventricles become ~80% full from this process;
contraction of the atria fills the remaining 20%
• Ventricles are relaxed = diastole phase
The Four-Chambered Heart: Systole Phase
(ventricle contraction)
• Following a slight delay from the diastole phase, the
ventricles contract = systole phase
• Contraction of the ventricles increases the pressure
within each chamber, causing the AV valves to
forcefully close; this forces the semilunar valves open
and blood flows into the arterial systems
• As the ventricles relax, closing of the semilunar valves
prevents backflow
 The Four-Chambered Heart and
the Blood Vessels

• The aorta and all its branches are systemic arteries,

carrying oxygen-rich blood from the left ventricle to
all parts of the body
• Right and left pulmonary arteries deliver oxygen-
depleted blood from the right ventricle to the right
and left lungs
• Pulmonary veins return oxygenated blood from the
lungs to the left atrium of the heart
 The Four-Chambered Heart and
the Blood Vessels
• Arteries – carry blood away from the heart; branch into
arterioles
• Capillaries – where materials (O2, CO2, nutrients, metabolic
wastes) are exchanged
• Veins – carry deoxygenated blood back towards the heart
 The Four-Chambered Heart and
the Blood Vessels
• Coronary arteries are the first branches off the aorta and
supply the heart muscle with oxygenated blood
• Blood from the body’s organs (now low in O2) returns to
the heart via systemic veins, which empty into 2 major veins
– Superior vena cava – drains the upper body
– Inferior vena cava – drains the lower body
– Both empty into the right atrium
 Blood Vessels
• The walls of arteries and veins have three
layers:
– Epithelium (innermost layer)
– Smooth muscle with elastin fibers
– Connective tissue (outermost layer)
• Arteries have thicker walls than veins; arterioles
have less elastin than arteries
• Capillaries only have the inner epithelium layer
(site of gas/nutrient/waste exchange)
Blood Vessels
 Blood Vessels: Capillaries
• Blood flows slower through capillaries
because of larger total cross-section
– Enables materials to be exchanged
– By the time blood reaches the end of the
capillary, it releases some of its oxygen and
nutrients and picks up CO2 and waste products
 Blood Vessels: Veins
• Less muscle is needed in veins because the
pressure in veins is only ~1/10th of that in the
arteries
• Venous pressure alone is not sufficient to
return blood to the heart
• Thus, skeletal muscles surrounding the veins
contract to move blood by squeezing the
veins; the venous pump
 Blood Vessels: Veins
• Internal valves in veins (venous valves)
ensure that blood continues to heart;
operate as one-way swinging doors
• Skeletal muscles on outside of vein
contracts, pushes against vein, causing
blood to flow towards heart; this opens one-
way valves up, pressure is released and
cannot return through valves (one-way
transport to heart)
Blood Vessels: Veins
 Components of Blood
• Blood serves to transport, regulate, and
protect
• Blood is composed of a fluid-matrix known
as plasma, within which reside different
cells and other ‘elements’
– Blood cells (red & white) and platelets
– Ions, proteins
– Nutrients, wastes and hormones
 Components of Blood
• Red blood cells, Erythrocytes
– Most numerous: 5 million/mL
– Transport O2 and CO2 (hemoglobin in
vertebrates)
– Mammalian erythrocytes lack nuclei
 Components of Blood
• White blood cells; Leukocytes
– Fewer in number; 1-2 for every 1000 erythrocytes
– Larger in size, and have nuclei
– Not confined to blood as erythrocytes are; can
migrate out of blood into surrounding interstitial
fluid or into the lymphatic system – where your
body fights infection
– Function in body’s defense
 Components of Blood
• Platelets; Thrombocytes
– Cell fragments that pinch off from larger cells in the bone
marrow
– Following injury to a blood vessel, platelets release
clotting factors (proteins) into the blood
– When platelets contact collagen, they stick to it ; results
in release of several factors which activate other
platelets
• Conversion of fibrogen (soluble) to fibrin (insoluble); fibrin
threads cross-link, connecting platelets and trapping other cells
in network = blood clot
 Formation of Blood Clot

Prothrombin

Thrombin
Fibrinogen
Thrombin
Fibrin

3. Cascade of
enzymatic
reactions is
1. Vessel is 2. Platelets triggered by 4. Threads of 5. Once tissue
damaged, adhere and platelets, fibrin trap damage
exposing become plasma factors, erythrocytes is healed,
surrounding sticky, forming and damaged and form the clot is
tissue to blood. a plug. tissue. a clot. dissolved.
 Blood Types
• Three alleles denote presence of specific
glycoproteins on the surface of blood cells
– Type A, B, O (and AB)
– Each contains antibodies of other types
• Rh factor – presence or absence of Rh
protein
– Positive (have) or negative (do not have)
– Negatives will form antibodies against Rh blood
upon exposure