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Circulatory System Study Guide
Heart
: a muscle in the body that acts as a pump to push blood throughout the body.Know these structures and be able to identify them on a diagram:
Right atrium: a small chamber in the heart that receives blood from the body and transfers it to the right
ventricle.
Left atrium: a small chamber in the heart that receives blood from the lungs and transfers it to the left
ventricle.
Right ventricle: one of two pumping chambers in the heart that sends blood to the lungs.
Left ventricle: the stronger of two pumping chambers in the heart that sends blood to the body.
Bicuspid or Mitral valve: a two-piece one way valve that separates the left atrium and ventricle.
Tricuspid valve: a three-piece one way valve that separates the right atrium and ventricle.
Septum: a dividing wall.
Pulmonary artery: vessel that leads from heart to lungs
Pulmonary Vein: vessel that goes from lungs back to heart
Aorta: artery that comes out of left ventricle and directs blood back to the body.
Know that the pulse rate is the speed at which the heart works to push blood through the blood vessels and blood pressure is a measurement of the force at which blood is pushed through the vessels.
Know the difference between arteries (carry blood away from the heart), veins (carry blood to the heart), and capillaries (small vessels where red cells exchange oxygen for carbon dioxide with surrounding tissues).
Know what’s in blood.
Red Blood Cells – red, round, donut shaped cells that are full of hemoglobin, contain no nucleus, can change shape to squeeze through capillaries to carry oxygen to cells and carbon dioxide away from cells. They live about 4 months and old or dead RBC’s are filtered out by the spleen and liver.
White Blood Cells - larger, white or colorless cells that have the ability to move on their own through tissues or in the blood stream to fight off disease by eating germs or making antibodies.
Platelets- flat, small, cell parts that coagulate or form a plug or clot to prevent bleeding
Plasma- a thin, watery fluid that carries cells, hormones, and sugars (energy) to all parts of the body. ˝ of blood is plasma
Know the spleen works at filtering the blood, and the liver makes plasma.
Know the following circulatory system diseases.
Heart Disease or Heart Attack- blockage of a blood vessel that leads to the heart by fatty deposits made
from plaques that usually consist of a substance called cholesterol and fat The risk of heart disease can be lowered through eating low fat diets, limiting the intake of cholesterol, and exercising regularly.
Stroke- blockage, usually by a blood clot, of a blood vessel that leads to the brain.
HIV or AIDS- Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a virus that attacks the immune system preventing the body from being able to fight off disease. HIV is transmitted through sexual contact or by contact with contaminated blood. AIDS is the final stage of HIV, for which, at present, there is no cure.
Know that transfusions are the taking of one person’s blood or blood components and placing it into another individual. Successful transfusions require proper matching of blood types A, B, AB, and O as well as the Rh factor or D type match of positive or negative.