CIRCULATORY SYSTEM

 The mammalian circulatory system comprises two major systems:

*the cardiovascular system &

*the lymphatic vascular system

CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM

 The cardiovascular system consists of the heart, major arteries, arterioles, capillaries, venules,
and veins that form a closed system of blood vessels that carry blood.

 Within this system are two major circuits that distribute blood, the systemic circulation and the
pulmonary circulation.

 Both circuits depend on the pumping action of the heart for blood distribution.

 The systemic circulation carries the blood from the heart to all organs, tissues, and cells via
arterial vessels and then back to the heart via the venous vessels.

 The pulmonary system carries deoxygenated blood from the heart to the lungs for gaseous
exchange and the oxygenated blood back to the heart for distribution via the systemic circulation.
CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM

 The main functions of the blood vascular system are gaseous exchange; temperature control; and
transport of oxygen, carbon dioxide, nutrients, hormones, metabolic products, cells of immune
defense system, and many other essential products.

Types of Arteries

 There are three types of arteries: elastic arteries, muscular arteries, and arterioles

 Arteries that leave the heart with the oxygenated blood become smaller as they exhibit
progressive branching. With each branching, the luminal diameters of the arteries gradually
decrease until the smallest vessel, the capillary, is formed.

Elastic Arteries

 The largest blood vessels and include the pulmonary trunk and aorta with their major branches,
the brachiocephalic, common carotid, subclavian, vertebral, pulmonary, and common iliac
arteries.

 The walls of elastic vessels are composed of elastic connective tissue fibers interspersed with
circularly arranged smooth muscle fibers that provide great resilience and flexibility during blood
flow.

Muscular Arteries

 The large elastic arteries branch and become medium-sized muscular arteries, the most
numerous vessels in the body.

 In contrast to elastic arteries, the walls of muscular arteries contain greater amounts of smooth
muscle fibers.
Arterioles

 Arterioles are the smallest branches of the arterial system. Their walls consist of one to five layers
of smooth muscle fibers. Arterioles deliver blood to the smallest blood vessels, the capillaries;
capillaries connect arterioles with the smallest veins or venules.

Structural Plan of Arteries

The wall of a typical artery contains three concentric layers, or tunics, namely:

 The innermost layer facing the lumen is the tunica intima. This layer consists of a simple
squamous epithelium, called endothelium in the vascular system, and a thin underlying layer of
subendothelial connective tissue.

 The middle layer is the tunica media, composed primarily of smooth muscle fibers. Interspersed
among the smooth muscle fibers are elastic and reticular fibers. In the muscular and elastic
arteries, smooth muscle fibers produce the elastic fibers, some collagen fibers, and extracellular
elements. The collagen fibers provide tensile strength to the arterial walls, whereas the elastic
fibers allow for the distention and recoil of the vessel walls during heart contraction and blood
ejection.

 The outermost layer is the tunica adventitia, composed primarily of longitudinally oriented
collagen fibers and elastic connective tissue fibers; adventitia consists primarily of collagen type I
fibers.

Structural Plan of Veins

 Capillaries unite to form larger blood vessels called venules that usually accompany arterioles.
 Venous blood initially flows into smaller post capillary venules and then into veins of increasing
size.
 The veins are arbitrarily classified as small, medium, and large.
 Compared with arteries, veins are more numerous and have thinner walls, larger diameters, and
greater structural variation.
Structural Plan of Veins

 Blood that enters the veins is under low pressure.

 Small-sized and medium-sized veins, particularly veins in the extremities (arms and legs) and
those that convey blood against gravity, have valves.

 Because of the low blood pressure in the veins, blood flow to the heart in the veins is slow and
can even back up.

 The presence of valves in veins assists venous blood flow toward the heart by preventing
backflow. When blood flows toward the heart, pressure in the veins forces the valves to open. As
the blood begins to flow backward, the valve flaps close the lumen and prevent backflow of blood.

 Venous blood between the valves in the extremities flows toward the heart because of the
contraction of surrounding muscles, contractions between muscles, or contractions of organs that
have some muscle such as the spleen.

 However, valves are absent in veins of the central nervous system (CNS), the inferior and superior
venae cavae, and the viscera.

 The walls of the veins, like the arteries, also exhibit three layers or tunics; however, the muscular
layer is much thinner and less prominent.

 The tunica intima in veins exhibits an endothelium and subendothelial connective tissue.

 In contrast to arteries, the muscular tunica media is thin in the veins, and the smooth muscles
intermix with connective tissue fibers.

 The tunica adventitia is the thickest and best-developed layer of the three tunics. Longitudinal
bundles of smooth muscle fibers are common in the connective tissue of this layer.

 The structure of the venous walls allows flexibility and the accommodation of a large blood
volume. As a result, veins contain most of the blood in the body.
Vasa Vasorum

 The walls of medium and large arteries and veins are too thick to provide nourishment to the cells
by direct diffusion from their lumina.

 As a result, these walls are supplied by their own small blood vessels from adjacent small arteries
called the vasa vasorum (blood vessels of the larger blood vessel).

 The vasa vasorum allows for the exchange of nutrients and metabolites with cells in the tunica
adventitia and the deeper tunica media.

 The vessels of vasa vasorum are much more extensive in the walls of the veins than in the arteries
because of the poor oxygen content of venous blood.

Types of Capillaries

 Capillaries are the smallest blood vessels.

 Their average diameter is about 8 μm, which is about the size of an erythrocyte (red blood cell
[RBC]).

 Each capillary consists of a thin endothelium, an underlying basal lamina, and a few randomly
scattered pericytes.

 These cells surround the capillaries with branching cytoplasm and are enclosed by a basal lamina
that also encloses the capillary endothelium.
Types of Capillaries

 Three types: continuous capillaries, fenestrated capillaries, and sinusoids

 These structural variations in capillaries allow for different types of metabolic exchange between
blood and the surrounding tissues.

Continuous capillaries

 Continuous capillaries are the most common. They are found in muscle, connective tissue,
nervous tissue, skin, respiratory organs, and exocrine glands.

 In these capillaries, the endothelial cells are joined and form an uninterrupted, solid endothelial
lining. Tight junctions, desmosomes, and gap junctions are seen in these capillaries.

Fenestrated capillaries

 Fenestrated capillaries are characterized by openings or fenestrations (pores) in the cytoplasm of

endothelial cells designed for rapid exchange of molecules between blood and tissues.

 Fenestrated capillaries are found in those organs/tissues where enhanced exchange of substances
occurs between tissues and blood.

 Endocrine tissues and glands, the small intestine, the kidney glomeruli, and the choroid plexus in
the brain ventricles are organs that exhibit fenestrated capillaries.
Sinusoidal capillaries

 Sinusoidal (discontinuous) capillaries are blood vessels that exhibit irregular, tortuous paths.
 Their much wider diameters slow down the flow of blood.

 Endothelial cell junctions are rare in sinusoidal capillaries, and wide gaps exist between individual
endothelial cells.

 Also, because a basement membrane underlying the endothelium is either incomplete or absent,
direct exchange of molecules occurs between blood contents and cells.

 Sinusoidal capillaries are found in the liver, spleen, and bone marrow.
LYMPHATIC VASCULAR SYSTEM

 The lymphatic vascular system is closely associated with the circulatory system.

 It is composed of vascular channels that drain extracellular fluid called lymph from the tissues.

 The lymphatic system consists of lymph capillaries and lymph vessels that originate as blind-
ending tubules or lymphatic capillaries in the connective tissue of organs.

 The lymph capillaries lie close to the blood capillaries and collect the excess interstitial fluid
(lymph) from the tissues.

 The collected lymph is returned to the venous blood via the large lymph vessels, the thoracic duct,
and the right lymphatic duct after it is filtered through numerous lymph nodes located throughout
the body.

 Also, the walls of lymph vessels show more permeability than the walls of blood capillaries
because the endothelium in lymph capillaries is extremely thin.

 The structure of larger lymph vessels is similar to that of veins except that their walls are much
thinner.

 Lymph movement in the lymphatic vessels is similar to that of venous blood.

 In larger lymph vessels, the contraction of smooth muscles in their walls moves the lymph
forward.

 In addition, external factors such as the contractions of surrounding skeletal muscles, arterial
pulsations, and compression of tissues also assist in the lymph flow.

 Similar to the veins, numerous valves in the lymph vessels prevent backflow of the collected
lymph.
  Lymph vessels are found in all tissues except in the CNS, cartilage, bone and bone marrow,
thymus, placenta, and teeth.

 Lymph capillaries also take up and deliver the absorbed lipids from the intestines into the
bloodstream.

FUNCTIONAL CORRELATIONS

Blood Vessels

 The elastic arteries transport the ejected blood from the heart and move it along the
systemic vascular path.

 The presence of elastic fibers in their walls allows the elastic arteries to greatly expand in
diameter during systole (heart contraction), when a large volume of blood is forcefully
ejected from the ventricles into their lumina.

 During diastole (heart relaxation), the expanded elastic walls recoil upon the volume of
blood in their lumina and force the blood to move forward through the vascular channels.

 As a result, a less variable systemic blood pressure is maintained, and blood flows evenly
through the body during heartbeats.

 In contrast, the muscular arteries control blood flow and blood pressure through
vasoconstriction (narrowing) or vasodilation (expanding) of their lumina.

 Vasoconstriction and vasodilation are controlled by unmyelinated axons of the

sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system (ANS).

 Similarly, by autonomic constriction or dilation of their lumina, the smooth muscle fibers
in smaller muscular arteries or arterioles regulate blood flow into the capillary beds.

 Terminal arterioles give rise to the smallest blood vessels, the capillaries.
  Because of their very thin walls, capillaries are sites for the exchange of gases,
metabolites, nutrients, and waste products between blood and interstitial tissues.

Lymphatic Vessels

 The main function of the lymphatic vascular system is to collect excess tissue fluid and
proteins, called lymph, from the intercellular spaces of the connective tissue and return
it into the venous blood vascular system.

 Lymph is a clear fluid and an ultrafiltrate of the blood plasma.

 Numerous lymph nodes are located along the route of the lymph vessels.

 In the maze of lymph node channels, the collected lymph is filtered of cells and particulate
matter. Lymph that flows through the lymph nodes is also exposed to the numerous
macrophages that reside here.

 These engulf foreign microorganisms and other suspended matter.

 The lymph vessels also bring to the systemic bloodstream lymphocytes, fatty acids
absorbed through the capillary lymph vessels called lacteals in the small intestine, and
immunoglobulins (antibodies) produced in the lymph nodes. Thus, the lymphatic vessels
serve as an important component of the immune system of the body.
Endothelium

 The endothelium lining the lumina of blood vessels performs numerous physiologic,
metabolic, and secretory functions.

 The endothelial cells form a semipermeable barrier between blood and the interstitial
tissue. The cells are anchored to the basal lamina and attached to each other by adhesion
junctions.

 The presence of pinocytotic vesicles in the endothelial cells indicates a bidirectional

movement of molecules between blood and tissues. The smooth lining of the
endothelium in the blood vessels and the secretion of anticoagulants by the endothelial
cells prevent blood clotting.

 The endothelium surface is also lined by glycocalyx protein.

 In addition, endothelial cells secrete prostacyclin, an antithrombotic substance that

prevents platelet adhesion in the blood vessels and blood clot formation.

 Endothelial cells also produce vasoactive chemicals nitrous oxide and its related
compounds to induce vasodilation and increase blood flow.

 Conversely, the secretion of endothelin proteins by endothelial cells counteracts the

nitrous oxide effects by causing vasoconstriction and decreased blood flow.

 The endothelium also converts angiotensin I to angiotensin II, a powerful vasoconstrictor

that increases blood pressure.

 Endothelium changes prostaglandins, bradykinin, and serotonin to biologically inactive

compounds, degrades lipoproteins, and produces growth factors for fibroblasts, blood
cell colonies, and platelets.
  The arterial endothelial cytoplasm contains small membrane-bound, electron-dense
structures called Weibel-Palade bodies that store the procoagulant glycoprotein von
Willebrand factor.

 When the endothelium is damaged, von Willebrand factor is released into the
bloodstream to induce platelets adhesion, blood coagulation, and blood clot formation.

HEART WALL

PACEMAKER OF THE HEART

 Cardiac muscle is involuntary and contracts rhythmically and automatically.

 The impulse-generating and impulse-conducting portions of the heart are specialized or

modified cardiac muscle fibers located in the sinoatrial (SA) node and the AV node in the
wall of the right atrium of the heart.

 The modified cardiac muscle fibers in these nodes exhibit spontaneous rhythmic
depolarization or impulse conduction, which sends a wave of stimulation throughout the
myocardium of the heart.

 Because the cardiac muscle fibers in the SA node depolarize and repolarize faster than
those in the AV node, the SA node sets the pace for the heartbeat and is, therefore, called
the pacemaker.

 Intercalated discs bind all cardiac muscle fibers while stimulatory impulses from the SA
node are conducted via gap junctions to the atrial musculature, causing rapid spread of
stimuli throughout the entire cardiac muscle and their contraction. Impulses from the SA
node travel through the heart musculature via internodal pathways to stimulate the AV
node in the interatrial septum. From the AV node, the impulses spread along specialized
conducting cardiac fibers, called the AV bundle (of His), located in the interventricular
septum (between ventricles).
  The AV bundle then divides into right and left bundle branches to stimulate both
ventricles to contract. Approximately halfway down the interventricular septum, the AV
bundle branches become the Purkinje fibers, which branch further to transmit the
stimulation throughout the entire ventricular musculature.

 The pacemaker activities of the heart are influenced by the axons from the autonomic
nervous system (ANS) and by hormones. Axons from both the parasympathetic division
and the sympathetic division innervate the heart and form a wide plexus at its base.

 Although these axons innervate the heart myocardium, they do not affect the initiation
of rhythmic activity of the nodes. Instead, they affect the heart rate.

 Stimulation by the sympathetic nerves accelerates the heart rate, whereas stimulation by
the parasympathetic nerves produces the opposite effect and decreases the heart rate.

PURKINJE FIBERS

 Purkinje fibers are thicker and larger than cardiac muscle fibers and contain a greater
amount of glycogen and fewer contractile filaments.

 Purkinje fibers are part of the conduction system of the heart.

 These fibers are located beneath the endocardium on either side of the interventricular
septum and are recognized as separate tracts. Because Purkinje fibers branch throughout
the myocardium, they deliver continuous waves of stimulation from the atrial nodes (SA
and AV) to the rest of the heart musculature via the gap junctions. This stimulation
produces ventricular contractions (systole) and the ejection of blood from both
ventricular chambers.
ATRIAL NATRIURETIC HORMONE

 Certain cardiac muscle fibers in the atria exhibit dense granules in their cytoplasm.

 These granules contain atrial natriuretic hormone (ANH) that is released in response to
atrial distention or stretching.

 The main function of this factor is to decrease blood pressure by regulating blood volume.

 The ANH inhibits the release of renin by kidney cells and aldosterone from the adrenal
gland cortex that induce the kidneys to excrete more sodium ions and water (diuresis).

 As a result, the blood volume and blood pressure are reduced decreasing the distention
of the atrial wall and further release of the ANH