Blood Vessels

Arteries
These are the blood vessels which carry oxygenated blood away from the heart except for in the
pulmonary artery which carries deoxygenated blood. Blood is oxygenated and is therefore at
high pressure. Additionally, as a result of the heartbeat, blood tends to move in surges.
Therefore, to withstand these high-pressure surges, the walls of arteries are thick and
composed of elastic and smooth muscle. This allows the walls to expand and recoil without
rupturing to allow for smooth and fast blood flow through the artery.

The structure of an artery is as follows:

♦ Tunica Externa:

This consists of collagen fibres. The triple helical structure and hydrogen bonds in collagen
provided resistivity to stretching.

♦ Tunica Media:

Consists of smooth muscle and elastic fibres. This allows the walls of the vessel to stretch
easily as blood flows at high pressure and to recoil as the blood pressure drops. This surge
is provided as the ventricles contract.

♦ Tunica Intima:

Consists of squamous endothelium cells. This lining is smooth so as to reduce the chances
of turbulent flow.

♦ Lumen:

This is the space through which blood flows. The lumen of an artery is relatively small as
blood travels quickly. The lumen does not contain valves as as blood pressure is high and
there is no back flow.

As arteries reach the tissue to which they are supplying blood, they branch into arterioles.
Walls of arterioles contain more smooth muscle allowing for contraction. Arterioles contract in
order to narrow the diameter of the lumen and hence reducing the blood flowing through it. This
helps to control the amount of blood entering the tissue.
Veins
These are blood vessels which carry deoxygenated blood away from the heart except for in the
pulmonary vein, which carries oxygenated blood. Deoxygenated blood is at much lower
pressure than oxygenated blood and therefore travels much slower. Veins therefore have little
need for smooth and elastic muscle in their walls.

The structure of a vein is as follows:

♦ Tunica Externa:

This consists of collagen fibres. The triple helical structure and hydrogen bonds in collagen
provided resistivity to stretching.

♦ Tunica Media:

Much smaller than that of the artery. It contains smooth muscle and little collagen fibres as
there are no pulses and the threat of rupturing is eliminated.

♦ Tunica Intima:

Consists of squamous endothelium cells. This lining is smooth so as to reduce the chances
of turbulent flow.

♦ Lumen:

Much larger than that of the artery in order to take in more blood. Due to the low pressure and
lack of pulses in veins, blood travels slowly and there is backflow. Valves are present in the
lumen of veins to prevent the backflow of blood.

Capillaries
Capillaries are very small blood vessels which carry blood flowing between the arteries and veins
at low pressure and low speed. They also function to allow the exchange of respiratory gases,
solutes and water between blood and tissue fluid. Capillaries are one cell thick and are 4-10
micrometers in diameter. Neighboring endothelial cells form pores between them through which
water and other substances pass into the tissue fluid. The slow movement of blood in capillaries
allows for time to elapse for exchange.

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.

The Heart
The heart is situated between the two lungs and acts as the pump in the circulatory system. It is
surrounded by a tough sac called the pericardium.

The outer part of the pericardium consists of inelastic white fibrous tissue. This inelasticity
prevents the heart from becoming over stretched and overfilled with blood. The inner membrane
is attached to the heart and pericardial fluid is secreted between the two membranes. This fluid
reduces friction between the heart wall and surrounding tissues.

There are four chambers in the heart; the right and left atria and the right and left ventricles.
The right and left sides of the heart are separated by the septum. This allows for the separated
of deoxygenated and oxygenated blood.

Flow of Blood through the Heart



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The Cardiac Cycle
This is the sequence of events which take place during one heartbeat. It involves a
series of contractions known as systoles and relaxations known as diastoles
♦ Atrial Diastole
During this time, the atria and ventricles are relaxed and blood returns to the heart
under low pressure. The atrioventricular valves are closed and the two atria fill with
blood. Blood pressure increases and is higher than that of the ventricles and the
atrioventricular valves are pushed open.
♦ Atrial Systole:
The two atria contract simultaneously resulting in the blood being pumped into the
ventricles.
♦ Ventricular Systole:
When the ventricle is full from blood from atrial systole, ventricular systole begins.
This is usually 0.1 to 0.2 seconds later. Contractions of the ventricles occur from the
apex at the base of the heart and squeeze upwards. This results in an increase in
blood pressure in the ventricles. This high blood pressure opens the semi lunar
valves so that blood can enter the Aorta and Pulmonary artery. It also closes the
atrio-ventricular valves. This causes the first heart sound, described as "lub".
♦ Ventricular Diastole:
The high pressure from the Aorta and Pulmonary Artery tends to force blood back
into the low pressured ventricles. This causes the semi-lunar valves to close.The
closing of these valves causes the second heart sound known as 'dub'.

Myogenic Control of the Heart

The heart muscle is myogenic (the heart beat is initiated from within itself and its
not due to nervous stimulation). The stimulus for the contraction of the heart is found
in the walls of the right atrium called the sino-atrial node (SAN). It is a region of
specialised cardiac fibres which acts as a pacemaker. During atriole systole, a wave
of excitation arises at the SAN and then spreads over the two atria, causing them to
contract simultaneously. This electrical wave is prevented from spreading to the
muscle fibres of the ventricles by a layer of connective tissue called the atrio-

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 ventricular septum. This prevents the ventricles from contracting at the same time
as the atria.

This wave of excitation then reaches the atrio-ventricular node (AVN) which is
found between the two atria and is connected to a bundle of specialised muscle fibres,
the AV Bundle.The AV Bundle is connected to the Bundle of His which then gives
rise to the Purkyne tissue. From the AVN, the wave then travels down the Bundle of
His towards the apex of the heart. The impulses then travel into the Purkyne tissue, in
the ventricle walls, which carries the wave upwards through the ventricular muscle.
This causes the cardiac muscle in the ventricles to contract simultaneously from the
apex upwards and ventricular systole occurs.

THE ELECTROCARDIO GRAPH(ECG)

The heart's electrical activity can be recorded using and electrocardio graph. Electrodes
are positioned on the chest and limbs in such a way that electrical currents in all areas
of the heart are monitored. The readings on the ECG display the voltage between pairs
of electrodes.

A typical ECG consists of characteristic waves which correspond to particular events in

the cardiac cycle.

♦ The P-wave:

Electrical impulses spread from the SAN through the atria to the AVN. This results in
atrial systole occurring.

♦ The QRS Complex:

Electrical activity continues from the AVN through the AV Bundle in the ventricles to
produce ventricular systole.

♦ The T-wave:

This represents electrical recovery(repolarisation) of the ventricles and therefore

corresponds to ventricular diastole.

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 The ECG can be used to measure the heart rate. Each larger square represents
0.2s. 300 of these squares pass through the ECG machine in 1 minute.

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