Transport in Humans

The blood circulatory system

This consists of: 1. Heart

2. Blood

3. Blood vessels

1. Heart:

Kidney - Renal

Lungs - Pulmonary

Liver – Hepatic

Functioning of

the heart:
The blood vessels

which bring blood

to the heart are veins

and the blood

vessels which take

blood away from

the heart are

arteries.

When the two

atria relax, the

right atrium

receives

deoxygenated

blood through

vena cava but the

left atrium

receives

oxygenated blood through pulmonary veins.

When the two atria contract the ventricles relax, during this period the right ventricles receives deoxygenated blood from the right atrium through the tricuspid

valve, but the left ventricle receives oxygenated blood from the left atrium through the bicuspid or the mitral valve.

When the two ventricles contract the bicuspid and tricuspid valves close to prevent the backflow of blood to the atria. Blood from the right ventricle is forced

through the semi-lunar valve into pulmonary artery to reach the lungs but oxygenated blood is forced from the left ventricle through semi-lunar valve into aorta to

reach the different parts of the body.

Coronary artery supplies blood to the heart (cardiac) muscle

Double circulatory system: In a complete journey of blood through the body, the blood travels twice through the heart.

List the differences in composition between the blood in the left and right ventricles

Right ventricle Left ventricle

Advantages of double circulation
●
Oxygenated blood and deoxygenated blood are separated without getting mixed.
●
To maintain the blood pressure at various level.
●
Pulmonary circulation allows exchange of gases in lungs while the systemic circulation provides the different parts of the body with oxygen and carries

away the waste products.

Ex: name the blood vessels A, B, C, D and E

Ex: Name the blood vessel which carries blood;

●
At the highest pressure --------------------------------------------------------------------
●
At the lowest pressure --------------------------------------------------------------------
●
To the heart --------------------------------------------------------------------
●
With the highest oxygen concentration ------------------------------------------------
●
With the lowest oxygen concentration ------------------------------------------------
●
With the highest glucose and amino acid concentration -----------------------------
●
With the lowest urea concentration ----------------------------------------------------------
●
With the highest urea concentration ----------------------------------------------------------
Factors affecting the rate of heart beat

1. Exercise: as the level of exercise increases the rate also increases. This is because more carbon dioxide is produced; this will stimulate the medulla oblongata to

detect. As a result the heart beats faster; hence more oxygen is supplied to the active muscles. This will increase the rate of respiration thus producing a lot of energy

for muscle contraction. In the mean time more carbon dioxide is removed.

2. Adrenaline: this also increases the rate of heart beat.

Ex: explain why the rate of heart beat is more in babies than adults.

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Main causes of a heart attack (coronary heart diseases)

●
Poor diet with too much saturated fat- leads to cholesterol building up in arteries, eventually blocking the blood vessels. If this happens in coronary

artery, the blood supply to the heart will decrease, resulting heart attack.
●
Smoking- nicotine damages the heart and blood vessels, further it causes the formation of cholesterol in arteries.
●
Stress- tends to increase blood pressure, which can damage arteries, resulting blockage. Eventually it can lead to heart attack.
●
Lack of exercise- the heart muscle loses its tone and becomes less efficient in pumping blood.
●
Obesity- being overweight puts extra strain on the heart and makes it more difficult, leading to fatigue (tired) in the heart.
●
Inherited factors- some families are more prone to heart diseases than others. This is related to defective (mutated) genes.

BLOOD
Cells Plasma (pale yellow liquid)

Water

RBC WBC Platelets Salt

Wastes

Plasma Proteins Eg:-urea,

Eg:- Antibodies,Fibrinogen carbon dioxide

Nutrients
Glucose,amino acids

Hormones
Eg:- Insulin,adrenaline

Plasma: - it’s a pale yellow liquid containing many substances.

Functions of plasma

1. It transports heat.

2. It transports many different substances such as nutrients, wastes,

hormones.etc
3) It has anti-bodies which protect the body and it also has fibrinogen which

helps in blood clotting.

4) It carries blood cells such as RBC, WBC and platelets.

Blood clotting

If a blood vessel is damaged, the platelets release an enzyme which triggers a series of chemical reactions which will eventually convert the soluble fibrinogen into

insoluble fibrin. The fibrin fibres form a mesh on the wound, which trap blood cells to make a blood clot.

Blood cells
5)
RBC

Structure:-

⮚
It’s a biconcave disc. The middle part of the cell is depressed and out of all the blood cells RBC is the most in number.
⮚
It has haemoglobin which is made from iron and globin protein.(red respiratory pigment)
⮚
Many organelles are absent such as nucleus, mitochondria. Etc.
⮚
Since RBC is small and flexible, it can easily pass through small blood capillaries.

Functions:-
⮚
It carries oxygen with the help of haemoglobin.
2 8
Eg: - Hb + 4 O Hb0
Dull red Bright red

⮚ It also carries carbon dioxide

Adaptations:-
⮚
Biconcave disc, this increases the surface area for absorbing oxygen.
⮚
It does not have a nucleus; therefore more respiratory gases can be carried as more Hb can be accommodated.
⮚
It has respiratory pigment haemoglobin, to carry respiratory gases.

2) WBC there are different kinds of WBCS, all of them have nucleus

Structure:-
⮚
It is a larger cell than RBC and also there number is less. RBC to WBC ratio is 600:1 for a healthy person
⮚
Unlike RBC, they almost have all the organelles

Functions:-
⮚
There are two types:- a. Phagocytes:- Engulf

b. Lymphocytes:- Antibodies
o
Phagocytes engulf micro- organisms then digest them, thereby they kill

Micro-organisms. Phagocytes kill all the microorganisms.

o
Lymphocytes produce antibodies, which bind to micro-organisms

as a result the movement of micro-organisms is restricted. Then phagocytes come and eat them. Lymphocytes are unique to a type of microorganisms. This means

that a lymphocyte which attacks a type of microorganism will not attack another kind.

3) Platelets

Are fragments of cells budded off from the cells of red bone marrow.

Functions:-
⮚
It prevents loss of blood.
⮚
It also prevents the entry of micro-organisms.

Blood Vessels

Arteries Capillaries Veins

1.
One layered wall
2.
Very thin wall.
3. 1.
1. Three layered wall. Pores present. Three layered wall.
4. 2.
2. Very thick wall. No valves Thinner than artery.
5. 3.
3. No pores present. Medium pressure. No pores present.
6. 4.
4. No valves Little pulse flow Valves are present.
7. 5.
5. Blood flows at high pressure. Between arteries and veins. Low pressure.
8. 6.
6. Pulse flow of blood Both oxygenated and Continuous flow
7.
7. Takes blood away from the heart. deoxygenated. Takes blood towards the heart.
9. 8.
8. Generally, it carries oxygenated Very small lumen. Carries deoxygenated blood.
9.
blood. Large lumen.
 9. Small lumen.

Adaptations of blood vessels

Blood vessel Adaptation

Artery Large number of elastic fibres _ stretching and recoiling

Thick muscle – for contraction and relaxation so that blood will be pushed

Small lumen – to maintain high pressure

Vein Thin wall – can be compressed by skeletal muscle

Large lumen – to accommodate more blood

Valves – to prevent back flow of blood

Capillary Thin wall – permeable to small substances

Wall has fine pores – substances can move in an out of tissue fluid

Forms a dense network – provides large surface area

Naming blood vessels

This is based on the names of organ to which the blood vessel is connected. Example, the kidney receives blood from renal artery and gives blood to renal vein.

Try this,

Organ Artery Vein

Liver

Lungs

Heart
 Tissue

fluid:- is

the

leaked

blood

plasma

which

has come

from the

blood

capillaries. The substances which are small enough can pass through the pores in the capillaries due to high pressure.
2 2, 2
In the tissue fluid, certain substances should be kept constant such as O , CO H O, glucose. Etc.
❖
Tissue fluid and blood plasma are almost similar except that plasma has large protein.

Lymph:- Not all

the tissue fluid

returns to the capillaries. Some of it enters into lymph capillaries. Once it enters the lymph capillary it is known as lymph which is similar in composition to tissue

fluid.

Functions of lymphatic System

The lymphatic system is a collection of lymph vessels and glands.

❖
It contains lymphocytes.
❖
It takes the excess tissue fluid back to the blood.

It absorbs the digested fats coming from the lacteal.