Chapter 9

Transport in animals

Circulatory system : it is the system of the heart containing vessels, a

pump, the heart which makes blood, the fluid goes through these vessels.
The heart has valves which ensure blood flows in the correct direction.
They act like a gateway for blood.

How Blood flows : blood flows from the lungs to the left hand side of the
heart then out the body then back again to the right side of the heart
where it goes to the lungs and the cycle repeats

How blood gets oxygenated : blood comes from the lungs where it
mixes with oxygen. The blood is then sent around the body where the
oxygen is used up By cells for energy, the blood then goes to the right
hand side of the heart where it's deoxygenated then travels to the lungs
to become oxygenated again.

Double circulatory system : it's where blood passes through the heart
twice for one complete circuit of the body for maximum efficiency.
The pulmonary system takes the lungs to the body and back and the
systemic system takes the blood to the rest of the body and back. All
this happens with the help of vessels. In other words blood travels in two
loops while being transported through the body.

How it works : deoxygenated blood enters from the superior vena cava
from the upper half of the body and the inferior vena cava gets blood
from the lower half of the body. After that the blood is transported to
the right atrium where the high blood pressure gets through from the
atrioventricular valve breaking through the tricuspid wall, from there it
goes to the left ventricle and goes through the pulmonary artery to go
mix with oxygen in the lungs to become oxygenated. From there the
oxygenated blood enters the left atrium through the pulmonary vein
and then goes through the atrioventricular valve breaking through the
bicuspid wall, from there it goes to the left ventricle and exits through
the aorta to the body and the process repeats. The septum separates
the right ventricle and atrium from the left atrium and ventricle.

Single circulatory system and how it works : it's a system in which blood
passes through the heart only once on one complete circuit of the
body. A fish is a great example of where this is used. Deoxygenated blood
flows from the heart to the gills of a fish where it becomes oxygenated
and flows to provide energy to the rest of the body and then back to the
heart.

The heart : The hearts job is to pump blood throughout the body. The
heart has four chambers, the right atrium and right ventricle and the left
atrium and left ventricle. The atriums are the 2 upper chambers and the
ventricles are the two lower chambers. The chambers on the left and right
side are separated by a septum and the upper and lower chambers are
separated by the atrioventricular valve. The atria receive blood. After the
right atrium and ventricle work to push blood out through the pulmonary
artery that's when The left atrium receives it through the pulmonary
vein where it's now oxygenated. The right atrium receives blood from
the body through the venae cavae. Bloods pumped out of the heart by
the ventricles as the ventricle muscles push blood out as they contract.
The pulmonary artery takes blood to the lungs to be oxygenated and
the aorta takes the blood around the body.

Valves : the atrioventricular valve lets blood flow from the atrium to the
ventricle ensuring it goes in the right direction. The semilunar valves are
shaped like half moons which ensures that blood only flows from the
ventricle to the arteries

Atria wall thickness and why it's like that : the atria simply receive blood
from the body or the lungs so there's a low blood pressure meaning they
have thinner walls as compared to the ventricles.
Ventricle wall thickness : the ventricles pumps blood from the heart to
the rest of the body meaning it has a higher blood pressure, so to do
this they have thicker walls.

Differences in wall thickness between the left and right ventricles : the right
ventricle pumps blood to the lungs which which is close to the heart
meaning its walls are a bit thinner as compared to the left ventricle

The left atrium has to pump blood to the whole body having a higher
blood pressure, so they have thick walls to do this. The blood pressure
in the aorta is higher as compared to the blood in the pulmonary artery.

Coronary arteries : Vessels which supply blood to the heart. These

arteries supply nutrients and oxygen/oxygenated blood to the heart
muscles supplying them with energy to contract. The blood inside the
heart can not diffuse out to the muscles as the walls are too thick

Coronary heart disease(CHD) : this is a fatal disease that could cause the
heart to stop beating leading to death. These arteries can get blocked
by cholesterol build up in the walls of these arteries causing the wall to
be stiffer and the lumen more narrow allowing less blood to flow through
these vessels meaning the heart does not get what it needs resulting in
the heart not being able to contract to form a heartbeat. Ultimately this
leads to death. Blood clots can also form and may break away from this
artery and get stuck in a smaller vessel causing blood to stop flowing.

How to prevent this: the risk cannot be completely eliminated but can be
reduced. Cutting down on smoking can help. Keeping a balanced diet
with less animal fat or saturated fats as they have lots of cholesterol.
Exercising helps to us to lose weight and decreases blood pressure

Heart beat: average heartbeat is 60-75 bpm ( beats per minute ). When
the valves close with each heartbeat the sound lub-dub is produced
representing one heartbeat. A pulse rate is a measure of a heartbeat.
The heart pushes blood with the expansion and relaxation of an artery,
this is called a pulse. Your pulse rate and heartbeat are the same. On
your wrist and neck your arteries are near to the skin allowing you to
feel this pulse.

ECG (electrocardiograph) : the electrical activity of the heart measured

with small electrodes.

How the heart beats : The heart beats when the heart muscles contract
to push blood through and relax to allow blood to flow into the atrium
and ventricles. There's an atrioventricular valve separating the right
atrium and ventricle and the left atrium and ventricle. The valve
between the left atrium and ventricles is called the bicuspid or mitral
valve. The valve between the right atrium and right ventricle is called
the tricuspid valve. The atrioventricular valves are opened by the high
pressure of the blood. Valves in the veins are forced shut by the
pressure. When the heart contracts the semilunar valves in the aorta
and pulmonary vein are opened due to the pressure. Blood is forced
into ventricles from the atrium due to the ventricles remaining relaxed.

Blood vessels: Arteries, capillaries and veins are the 3 main blood
vessels. Arteries carry blood (oxygenated) away from the heart and
divide to become smaller turning into arterioles and eventually
capillaries. Capillaries provide cells with oxygenated blood and
nutrients. Capillaries join to make Venulus which also form together to
make veins. Veins (deoxygenated) carry blood towards the heart with
valves to keep blood flowing in the right direction.

Structure of the blood vessels: Arteries have a thick outer wall, a small
lumen, smooth lining and a thick layer of muscles and elastic fibers
Capillaries have a small lumen, a wall made of a single layer of cells.
Veins have a thin outer wall, large lumen thin layer of muscles and elastic
fibers and a smooth lining

Arteries: Arteries carry blood away from the heart. blood enters the
artery at a high blood pressure after being flowed out the heart. This is
due to the fact that it has just been forced out the heart through the
contraction of the ventricle walls. The arteries have strong walls to
withstand this high pressure of blood. The blood pulses through the
arteries, the blood has a higher pressure when the ventricles contract
and a lower pressure when the ventricles relax. The arteries have
elastic tissues in their walls with stretch and recoil to make blood
pulse through easier. You can feel this by feeling any of your body's
pulse points. Valves aren't needed here as the high blood pressure
causes the blood to keep moving forward

Capillaries: Capillaries are present in every part of the body. Capillaries

have very thin walls as they supply nutrients and oxygen and other
materials to all the cells of the body and they also take away their
waste materials, so they have thin walls so substances can get in and
out.

Veins: Veins carry blood to the heart. Veins don't have thick, strong
and elastic walls as the blood is at a much lower pressure than it was
at the arteries. Blood flows more smoothly and slower. The Lumen is
wide so blood doesn't move too slowly. Veins have valves to prevent
blood from flowing backwards. The blood in the veins flows upwards
and the pressure is very very low, and gravity is working against this
blood meaning there's no push for the blood to flow upwards. This is
where your valves come in place. Your major veins are buried between
muscles so when you muscles contract forcing blood up the vein
through one of the valves. Now gravity tries to pull the blood back but
valves don't allow blood to flow backwards as the blood gets suck in
the flaps of the valves causing them to close. Your muscles contract
again pushing the blood up through the next valves. Gravity again
tries to bring the valves down but they close off again, this process
repeats until the blood reaches the heart.

Naming blood vessels: Every part of the body besides the lungs is
supplied with oxygenated blood. In the liver the hepatic artery
supplies it with oxygen and the hepatic portal vein supplies it with
blood from the digestive system so the liver can process the
absorbed food before being transferred to other parts of the body.
The hepatic veins is how blood leaves the liver

Blood: blood is a liquid with cells. The liquid is called plasma, and the
cells are red blood cells, a few white blood cells and platelets which
are cell fragments formed from special cells in the bone marrow.

Red blood cells: The red pigment is provided by hemoglobin. Red

blood cells don't have a nucleus or mitochondria meaning more
space for hemoglobin. It carries oxygen, hemoglobin is a protein
containing iron. This iron combines with oxygen when the oxygen
concentration is too high. Oxyhemoglobin is formed when the
capillaries take blood too close to the alveoli in the lungs.
Oxyhemoglobin releases oxygen where oxygen levels are low, this
happens when blood passes through the capillaries near to respiring
cells. Oxygen diffuses in and out quickly through red blood cells due to
their high surface area and doughnut-like shape. Oxygen moves very
close to the body cells as they are very small and can move through
even the tiniest of capillaries.

White blood cells: They have a large nucleus which differentiates them
from red blood cells. They fight pathogens (disease causing
microorganisms) and clear up dead body cells. Phagocytosis is a
process in which white blood cells destroy pathogens by digest them
into their cytoplasm. The pathogen is enclosed in a vacuole of the
phagocytes cell membrane in which enzymes are secreted digesting
the bacteria. Note that soluble (able to be dissolved in water) diffuse
from the vacuole into the cytoplasm of the phagocyte. This whole
process is called phagocytosis. Phagocytes have a lobed nucleus
which looks like 3 nucleus. Some white blood cells produce antibodies
which are molecules which latch onto bacteria and destroy them. These
are called lymphocytes which have a large round nucleus almost filling
the cell.
Platelets: They are involved in blood clotting and have no nucleus and
are made in the red bone marrow. The use of blood clotting is to
prevent too much loss of blood and to prevent pathogens getting in
the skin through any cuts. To heal any wounds the following is done :
the blood plasma contains a soluble protein called Fibrinogen. If a
blood vessel breaks the platelets release a substance. The soluble
Fibrinogen is turned into an insoluble protein called Fibrin. This forms
fibers which pile up on each other creating a mesh like structure
helping to seal any open wounds. Red blood cells are trapped in this
mesh. Fibrinogen is a soluble protein found in blood plasma and
Fibrin is an insoluble protein formed from Fibrinogen when a blood
vessel breaks.

Plasma: it's mainly water with substances in it. Glucose, amino acids,
and mineral ions are soluble substances carried in the plasma.
Hormones like adrenaline or insulin and waste products like urea and
CO2 are transported by the plasma. The main role of plasma is to take
nutrients, hormones, and proteins to parts of the body that need it.

Artery : oxygenated
Vein : deoxygenated
Pulmonary : lungs
Renal : kidney
Hepatic : liver
ILiac :