Today we're going to view the cross section of the heart and discuss its basic functionality. We all know that our heart is a strong muscle that pumps the blood to our body. The blood carries oxygen and other important nutrients to the body organs to stay healthy.
The diagram in the video shows the cross section of the interior of the heart.
Our heart is divided into four chambers. The top two chambers are called Atria and lower chambers are called Ventricles. Hence you can see that there are four chambers - right atrium, left atrium, right ventricle and left ventricle. Also you can see arteries and veins. The function of arteries is to carry blood away from the heart and the function of veins is to carry blood to the heart. Here the Atria act as receiving chambers for blood, so they're connected to the veins that carry blood to the heart, and the ventricles are connected to the arteries that carry blood away from the heart.
Now, if you compare the size of atria and ventricles, atria are smaller than ventricles and have thin less muscular walls when compared to ventricles. Also the chambers on the right side of the heart are smaller when compared to the left side of the heart. This difference in size between the sides of the heart is related to their function and the size of the two circulatory loops. The right side of the heart maintains pulmonary circulation to the nearby lungs while the left side of the heart pumps the blood all the way to the extremities of the body in a systematic circulatory loop. There is a wall of muscle called the septum that separates the left and right atria, and left and right ventricles. If you compare all the four chambers, the left ventricle is the largest and strongest chambers in our heart.
Now let's take a look at how the blood flows through the heart. In this diagram, you can see the superior vena cava and inferior vena cava. These superior and inferior vena cava are nothing but veins. The function of the superior vena cava is to carry blood from the upper half of the body, ie., it brings the deoxygenated blood from the head neck arms and chest regions of the body to the right atrium, and the inferior vena cava will return the blood to the heart from the lower parts of the body. So first, te right atrium receives blood from the superior and inferior vena cava and pumps it to the right ventricle. The blood flows from right atrium to right ventricle through the open tricuspid valve. And when the ventricles are full, the tricuspid valve shuts, or in other words, it's function is to restrict the flow of blood from right ventricle to right atrium. The blood leaves the right ventricle through the pulmonary valve through the pulmonary artery for oxygenation. So in the lungs, the blood gets purified and oxygenated. The oxygen enriched blood enters the left atrium through the pulmonary veins. Then the blood flows from the left atrium to the left ventricle through the open mitral valve. So after reaching the left ventricle, the blood leaves the left ventricle through the aortic valve into the aorta into the body. This is how the heart functions continuously.
Let us do a recap..
At first, the blood enters to the right atrium through the superior and inferior vena cava. This is impure blood or deoxygenated blood. So, from the right atrium, blood will enter to the right ventricle through the open tricuspid valve. After reaching the right ventricle, the blood flows through the pulmonary valve and pulmonary artery to the lungs where the blood gets purified and this purified blood enters through the pulmonary veins to the left atrium, and from the left atrium, it enters the left ventricle through the mitral valve and from there, it goes through the aortic valve and through the aorta to the rest of the body. This is how the heart functions continuously.
Thankyou and have a nice day.
0 Comments