At the start of the blood circulatory cycle the heart pumps oxygenated blood out of the left

ventricle, through the Aorta (the largest artery in the body). The aorta divides into smaller
arteries, then arterioles and finally into microscopic capillaries, found deep within muscles
and organs. Here the Oxygen (and other nutrients) passes through the thin capillary walls,
into the tissues where it can be used to produce the energy muscles require to contract.

A waste product of energy production (metabolism) is Carbon dioxide and in order to be

removed, it too passes across the walls of the capillaries, into the blood stream. The blood
continues back towards the heart, through venules and then veins, into the right atrium.

Systemic circulation carries oxygenated blood from the left ventricle, through the arteries, to the
capillaries in the tissues of the body. From the tissue capillaries, the deoxygenated blood returns
through a system of veins to the right atrium of the heart.

Systemic circulation, in physiology, the circuit of vessels supplying oxygenated blood to and
returning deoxygenated blood from the tissues of the body, as distinguished from the pulmonary
circulation. Blood is pumped from the left ventricle of the heart through the aorta and arterial
branches to the arterioles and through capillaries, where it reaches an equilibrium with the tissue
fluid, and then drains through the venules into the veins and returns, via the venae cavae, to the
right atrium of the heart

Terms to know
Aorta

The largest artery in the body. It carries oxygen-rich blood away from the heart to vessels
that reach the rest of the body.

Atria

The chambers of the heart, to which the blood returns from the circulation.

Capillaries

The smallest of the body's blood vessels. Oxygen and glucose pass through capillary walls
and enter the cells. Waste products such as carbon dioxide pass back from the cells into the
blood through capillaries.

Cardiac Valves (Heart Valves)

Any of the four heart valves that regulate the flow of blood through the chambers of the
heart.

Deoxygenated Blood

Oxygen-poor blood.

Heart

The hollow, muscular organ that maintains the circulation of the blood.
Heart Ventricles

The lower right and left chambers of the heart.

Interventricular Septum

Interventricular septum is the stout wall separating the lower chambers (the ventricles) of
the heart from one another.

Lungs

One of a pair of organs in the chest that supplies the body with oxygen, and removes carbon
dioxide from the body.

Myocardium

The muscular substance of the heart; the middle of the three layers forming the outer wall
of the human heart.

Oxygenated Blood

Oxygen-rich blood.

Pulmonary Artery

The pulmonary artery and its branches deliver blood rich in carbon dioxide (and lacking in
oxygen) to the capillaries that surround the air sacs.

Pulmonary Circulation

The circulation of the blood through the lungs.

Pulmonary Veins

The veins that return the oxygenated blood from the lungs to the left atrium of the heart.

Superior Vena Cava

The large vein that carries blood from the head, neck, arms, and chest to the heart.

Vena Cava

A large vein which returns blood from the head, neck and extremities to the heart.

Blood is a fluid consisting of plasma, red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets that is circulated
by the heart through the vertebrate vascular system, carrying oxygen and nutrients to and waste
materials away from all body tissues.
The cardiovascular (from Latin words meaning "heart" and "vessel") system comprises the blood,
heart, and blood vessels

Arteries

See also: Arterial tree

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 gives branches supplying the upper part of the body.
after passing through the aortic opening of the diaphragm at the level of thoracic ten vertebra,
it enters the abdomen. Later it descends down and supplies branches to abdomen, pelvis,
perineum and the lower limbs. According to Difore's Atlas of Histology the walls of aorta are
elastic. This elasticity helps to maintain the blood pressure throughout the body. When the
aorta receives almost 5 L of blood from the heart, it recoils and is responsible for pulsating
B.P. Moreover, as aorta branches into smaller arteries, their elasticity goes on decreasing and
their compliance goes on increasing.

Capillaries

Arteries branch into small passages called arterioles and then into the capillaries.[8] The
capillaries merge to bring blood into the venous system.[9]

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.

Coronary vessels

Main article: Coronary circulation

The heart itself is supplied with oxygen and nutrients through a small "loop" of the systemic
circulation and derives very little from the blood contained within the four chambers.

Portal veins

The general rule is that arteries from the heart branch out into capillaries, which collect into
veins leading back to the heart. Portal veins are a slight exception to this. In humans the only
significant example is the hepatic portal vein which combines from capillaries around the gut
where the blood absorbs the various products of digestion; rather than leading directly back to
the heart, the hepatic portal vein branches into a second capillary system in the liver.

Heart

Main article: Heart

View from the front

The heart pumps oxygenated blood to the body and deoxygenated blood to the lungs. In the
human heart there is one atrium and one ventricle for each circulation, and with both a
systemic and a pulmonary circulation there are four chambers in total: left atrium, left
ventricle, right atrium and right ventricle. The right atrium is the upper chamber of the right
side of the heart. The blood that is returned to the right atrium is deoxygenated (poor in
oxygen) and passed into the right ventricle to be pumped through the pulmonary artery to the
lungs for re-oxygenation and removal of carbon dioxide. The left atrium receives newly
oxygenated blood from the lungs as well as the pulmonary vein which is passed into the
strong left ventricle to be pumped through the aorta to the different organs of the body.

The coronary circulation system provides a blood supply to the heart muscle itself. The
coronary circulation begins near the origin of the aorta by two coronary arteries: the right
coronary artery and the left coronary artery. After nourishing the heart muscle, blood returns
through the coronary veins into the coronary sinus and from this one into the right atrium.
Back flow of blood through its opening during atrial systole is prevented by the Thebesian
valve. The smallest cardiac veins drain directly into the heart chambers.[7]

Systemic circulation is the portion of the cardiovascular system which transports oxygenated blood
away from the heart through the aorta from the left ventricle where the blood has been previously
deposited from pulmonary circulation, to the rest of the body, and returns oxygen-depleted blood
back to the heart