Cardiovascular system

By
Olaoye O.D. (MBBS, Msc Anatomy)
Adjunct lecturer, Department of Anatomy
Babcock University
Introduction
• The mammalian blood vascular system consists of the heart, major
arteries, arterioles, capillaries, venules, and veins.
• The main function of this system is to deliver oxygenated blood to
cells and tissues and to return venous blood to the lungs for gaseous
exchange
Structure of the CVS
Characteristics
Arteries Veins Capillaries(are the Lymph
smallest blood vessels)
Types; Elastic, Muscular, Arbitrarily classified as There are three types of -
and Arterioles small, medium, and large capillaries: continuous,
fenestrated and sinusoid
Orientation:- also exhibit three layers No regular pattern -
contains three concentric or tunics
layers or tunics. tunica
Intima. Media &
Adventitia
Valves the lymph vessels contain
Present in Small-sized and more valves.
medium-sized veins.
An artery has a relatively Relatively thin wall and a
thick wall and a small large lumen
lumen
Arteries
Typical Arteries consist
Tunica intima- consists of a simple squamous epithelium, called endothelium
Tunica media- composed primarily of smooth muscle fibers. . Interspersed with variable amounts of elastic and
reticular fibers
Tunica adventitia, composed primarily of collagen(primarily of collagen type I) and elastic connective tissue fibers
Elastic arteries Muscular arteries Arterioles
Elastic fibers become more The innermost layer tunica intima Tunica intima is the innermost layer.,
numerous in the tunica media internal elastic lamina subendothelial layer of connective
When arteries acquire about 25 or more tissue,
layers of smooth muscle fibers arranged in internal elastic lamina (membrane)
a circular pattern, and thin dark strands of The tunica media.
elastic fibers in the tunica media, they are Tunica adventitia
called muscular or distributing arteries
External elastic lamina
Tunica adventitia, which contains both
collagen fibers and elastic fibers
Diagram
Elastic arteries Muscular arteries Arterioles

pulmonary trunk and aorta with Most numerous, sandwich within e.G afferent arterioles of the
their major branches, the the muscle eg kidney, lungs arterioles, etc
brachiocephalic, common carotid, Brachial artery, radial artery,
subclavian, vertebral, pulmonary, femoral artery
and common iliac arteries
 Veins
Veins typically are more numerous and have thinner walls, larger diameters, and greater structural variation
The walls of the veins, like the arteries, also exhibit three layers or tunics
Valves are absent in veins of the central nervous system, the inferior and superior venae cavae, and viscera.

Smal Medium Large

The wall of the vein (6) is much thinner The wall of the vein also contains the The tunica intima in large veins exhibits
in comparison to that of the artery but layers tunica intima, tunica media, and a prominent endothelium, large veins
also consists of tunica intima tunica adventitia. may also exhibit an internal elastic
composed of endothelium, a thin layer However, these three layers in the vein lamina that is not as well developed as
of circular smooth muscle tunica are not as thick as those in the wall of in the arteries
media, and the layer of connective the artery The muscular tunica media is thin, and
tissue tunica adventitia the smooth muscles intermix with
connective tissue fibers
Tunica adventitia is the thickest and
best-developed layer of the three
tunics smooth muscle fibers show a
longitudinal orientation
Diagrams
Large veins Middle veins Venules
Superior vena cava, inferior vena Jugula Vein, Femoral veins Microvenules in the JGA
cava
Capillaries
Continuous capillaries Fenestrated capillaries Sinusoidal (discontinuous)
(the most common) capillaries
found in muscle, connective tissue, found in endocrine tissues and found in the liver, spleen, and bone
nervous tissue, skin, respiratory glands, small intestine, and kidney marrow
organs, and exocrine glands glomeruli.
endothelial cells are joined and Characterized by large openings or Exhibit irregular, tortuous paths
form an uninterrupted, solid fenestrations (pores) in the Endothelial cell junctions are rare in
endothelial lining cytoplasm of endothelial cells sinusoidal capillaries, and wide
designed for a rapid exchange of gaps exist between individual
molecules endothelial cells.
Basement membrane underlying
the endothelium is either
incomplete or absent,
Diagrams
The lymphatic system
• Consists of lymph capillaries and lymph vessels.
• This system starts as blind-ending tubules or lymphatic capillaries in the
connective tissue of different organs
• These vessels collect the excess interstitial fluid (lymph) from the tissues and
return it to the venous blood via the large lymph vessels, the thoracic duct
and right lymphatic duct
• The endothelium in lymph capillaries and vessels is extremely thin
• Similar to that of blood movement, the contractions of surrounding skeletal
muscles forces the lymph to move forward
• Lymph vessels are found in all tissues except the central nervous system,
cartilage, bone and bone marrow, thymus, placenta, and teeth
• The lymphatic vessels are recognized by having the thinnest walls
Clinical correlates
• Peripheral artery disease is usually a sign of a buildup of fatty deposits in the
arteries (atherosclerosis)
• Aortic dissection;- A laceration of the tunica intima leads to tracking of blood
into the tunica media
• Abnormal dilatations of the heart or blood vessels are known as aneurysms
• Lymphoedema;- is a long-term (chronic) condition that causes swelling in the
body's tissues
• Deep vein thrombosis;- a blood clot in a deep vein of the leg, pelvis
• Inflammation of the walls of blood vessels may occur in arteries (arteritis),
capillaries (capillaritis) or veins (phlebitis, venulitis); the collective term is
vasculitis
References
• Inderbir Singh's Textbook of Human Histology with Colour Atlas and
Practical Guide.
• diFiore's Atlas of Histology with Functional Correlations