Heart Structure

Human Heart
The Heart is a critical muscle that pumps blood
through three sections of the circulatory system:
pulmonary (lungs and heart), systemic (body
systems) and the coronary (vessels that serve
heart). Coronary circulation that is essential to
the heart carries blood from the main artery that
comes from the heart.

Endocardium – It is the innermost layer that

lines within the heart and keeps blood from
Layers of the Heart sticking and prevents the formation of harmful
blood clots.
It consists of three layers namely:
3. Chambers of the Heart
Myocardium– The myocardium includes heart
muscle cells that make up the bulk of heart wall The four chambers are as mentioned below:
and the middle layer.  Left atrium
Epicardium – The outer layer of cells is known  Right atrium

as epicardium and the second layer which is  Left ventricle

membranous surrounds and protects the heart.  Right ventricle

Endocardium -The endocardium lines the
inner wall of the heart.
1. The Pericardium
It is a fiber kind of a covering around the heart
and keeps it in place. This is a unique
membrane and lubricates the heart in the
pericardial space to avoid friction. Pericardium
has two exclusive layers:
 Visceral layer directly covers the heart.
 Parietal layer forms a sac that contains the
fluid in the pericardial cavity.
2. The Heart Wall
The heart wall consists of three layers:
Epicardium – This is the outermost layer of the
heart and a thin layer of membrane that protects
and lubricates the outer its section.
Myocardium – This is a muscular layer and
consists of muscle tissue. It contributes to the
thickness and responsible for the pumping
action.
Atria are thin, less muscular walls and smaller
than ventricles. These are the blood-receiving
chambers that are carried to the heart by the
large veins.
Ventricles are larger and more muscular
chambers of pumping and push blood out to the
circulation. These are connected to larger
arteries that deliver blood for circulation.
The right ventricle and right atrium are smaller
than left chambers. Their walls consist of fewer
muscles compared to left portion and size
difference is based on their functions. The blood
from the right side flows through the pulmonary
circulation while blood from the left chambers
is pumped to the complete body.
4. Blood Vessels
 The blood vessels are the tubes that deliver
blood to all parts of a body.
 Veins supply deoxygenated blood to the
heart via inferior and superior vena cava that
drains into the right atrium.
 Capillaries are very small, tube like vessels
which form a network between the arteries
to veins.
 Arteries are muscular-walled tubes which
are involved in supplying oxygenated blood
away from the heart to all other parts of the
body. Aorta is the longest artery that leaves
the heart and gives off smaller branches.
5. Valves
 These are the fibrous flaps of tissues that are
present in cardiac chambers between the
veins. They ensure unidirectional flow and
prevent backflow of blood.
 Atrioventricular valves are present in
every ventricle and atrium. The valve
between the ventricle and right atrium is the
tricuspid valve, and the one which is found
between the left ventricle and atrium is
known as the mitral valve.
 Semilunar valves are present in the large
arteries and ventricles. An aortic valve is
present between the aorta and left ventricle,
and a pulmonary valve exists between the
pulmonary artery and right ventricle.
Heart Functions
Our Heart is about the size of a fist divided into
four chambers namely two ventricles and two
atria, as discussed above. There are one
ventricle and one atrium on the left side and the
other atrium and ventricle towards the right
side. The ventricles are the chambers that pump
blood and atria are the chambers that receive
blood. The deoxygenated blood received to
right atrium from:
 The superior vena cava is released into the
veins of the upper arms and organs.
 The inferior vena cava that leaves blood
from the veins of legs and lower organs.
 The coronary sinus, that leaves
deoxygenated blood from the heart.
The right ventricle pumps the blood to the lungs
for re-oxygenation when it gets filled up by the
pulmonary arteries. The right semilunar valves
close and prevents the blood from the
pulmonary veins after blood passes through the
pulmonary arteries. Then the oxygenated blood
is received by the left atrium from the lungs via
pulmonary veins.
Facts about Human Heart
 The heart weight is around 280 to 340 grams
(10 to 12 ounces) in male and 230 to 280
grams (8 to 10 ounces) in the female.
 On an average, the heart beats about
100,000 times a day i.e, around 3 billion
beats in a lifetime.
 An adult heart beats about 60 to 80 times
per minute.
 The Heart pumps around 5.7 liters of blood
in a day.
 The heart is situated at the center of the
chest and points slightly towards left.