Human Heart: The heart is the most essential organ of our body. The muscular organ is roughly about the size of a human fist and is responsible for pumping blood throughout our body that sustains life. It pumps around 5-6 liters of blood every day.
The heart is generally referred to as the body’s power engine. It is mainly required for the smooth functioning of the human body due to its function of circulating blood in all organs. While humans have been blessed with only one heart, certain animals or mammals may have more than one heart that functions differently than the human heart.
The heart sits at the center of the chest, which is between the lungs(in the thoracic cavity) and is situated towards the left breastbone, also known as the sternum. It is protected all around by the rib cage as it is a delicate organ and needs to be left undisturbed.
The heart has a primary role to play when it comes to taking care of several aspects of the body. A few of its functions are as follows:
The internal cavity of the heart forms two separate pumps on each side of the heart. These pumps are separated by the Septum, which is a wall formed of muscles. The upper chambers are known as Atrium while the lower chambers are called Ventricles. The right and left atria receive blood from either the body or the lungs and the ventricles pump blood into the lungs or the body. A person’s heartbeat is felt more strongly on the left side of the chest because of the left ventricle pumping forcefully. The chambers of the heart become smaller when it contracts, hence forcing the blood out of the atria into the ventricles and later from each ventricle into a blood vessel that is connected to the top of the heart.
The blood vessels that help in supplying the blood to the heart are known as veins, while the two main veins that connect to the heart are called the vena cava.
Various valves and chambers are responsible for controlling the blood flow in the heart.
The valves are flap-like structures, present at the end of two ventricles. These flaps are made up of thin tissues called cusps. They are responsible for maintaining a stable direction of blood flow. The basic function of our valves is to prevent the backflow of blood at any cost. From one side of the ventricle, the blood enters, while it leaves from the other side. The sound of the beating of our hearts comes from the opening and closing of these valves. There are four major valves –
The heart has four chambers that are further associated with their respective functions. These include:
The right atrium gets blood, lacking in oxygen, from the systemic veins and pushes it towards the right ventricle via the tricuspid valve. The tricuspid’s valve is solely concerned with preventing blood backflow.
The right ventricle pumps deoxygenated blood to the pulmonary artery after receiving it from the right atrium. The tricuspid valve closes itself up when the right ventricle contracts. In return, blood is pumped through the pulmonary artery and is transported to the lungs. At this point of time, when the right ventricle relaxes, blood tends to come back. However, this fills the valve flaps and closes the pulmonary valve to stop the blood from flowing back into the right ventricle.
The left ventricle pumps fresh oxygenated blood. The left ventricle contracts more strongly than any other chamber. This is what creates blood pressure in the body. The left ventricle connects almost all organ systems. A breakdown of the left ventricular would likely result in the impairment of all other organs.
The function of the left atrium is that it receives blood, rich in oxygen, from the lungs through the pulmonary veins. These are blood receiving chambers and their muscular walls are comparatively thinner than the ventricles. Here, the blood flows through the atrioventricular valve into the left ventricle, also called the mitral valve or bicuspid valve.
The mitral valve prevents blood from the left ventricle to the left atrium when the ventricles contract. This atrium is associated with an important function of producing a hormone so as to maintain blood pressure. When an increased amount of blood is stretched along the atria’s wall, atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) is produced which decreases kidney reabsorption of sodium ions to excrete more sodium ions in urine and causes water loss. As a result, loss of water causes a reduction in the volume of blood and possible blood pressure.
Blood vessels can be referred to as the channels through which blood passes and moves around in the whole human body. These contain a network of arteries, arterioles, capillaries, venules, and veins, each of them associated with a unique function.
However, there are three major types of blood vessels. These are –
These are muscular tubes and are red in color. Their function is to nourish our body tissues with oxygen and necessary nutrients. These arteries carry oxygenated blood away from the heart and towards the tissues of the body. As they move on away from the heart, they keep breaking into minute branches.
Capillaries are the smallest blood vessels in the human body, which connect the arteries to veins. They have a very thin wall which allows them enough elasticity to exchange oxygen, carbon dioxide, certain nutrients, and waste material between the blood and tissues. The largest capillaries can be found in the liver. There are mainly three major types of capillaries –
These are the blood vessels that are responsible for carrying the deoxygenated blood back to the heart. These are blue in color and keeps increasing in size as they reach towards their target organ, that is the heart. It has been found that the superior vena cava and the inferior vena cava are the largest veins present in the body. The superior vena cava carries blood to the heart from the upper half of the body, while the inferior vena cava brings blood from the lower half of the body and supplies it to the heart.
The pericardium is the first thing that can be observed while viewing the human heart.
The human heart is located in the left of the chest within the pericardial cavity. The pericardium is the membrane that makes up the lining of the pericardial activity. It is referred to as the outer covering of our hearts. It maintains a hollow space for the heart to expand when full, maintaining its position. It also produces a fluid that reduces the friction between the heart and its surrounding organs, thus protecting the heart. It has two layers:
The three layers of the heart’s wall are separated into the epicardium, the myocardium, and the endocardium.
The circulation system ensures the removal of carbon dioxide and all other wastes and the supply of oxygen and other nutrients to the human body.
The cardiac conduction system is an electrical system whose main function is to control the heart rate. It releases electrical responses which are then transmitted throughout the heart walls so as to enable it to keep pumping blood.
This pathway plays a very crucial part in the heart’s health and consists of 5 primary elements. These are –
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