The Circulatory
System
Ihsan International School
Grade 10
Ms. Hana El Tabbal
• Some animals are so small that all of their cells are in
direct contact with the environment.
• Diffusion and active transport across cell membranes
supply their cells with oxygen and nutrients and
remove waste products.
• The human body, however, contains billions of cells
that are not in direct contact with the external
environment.
• Because of this, humans need a circulatory system.
• The circulatory system transports oxygen, nutrients,
and other substances throughout the body, and it
removes wastes from tissues.
• Blood is pumped through the body
by the heart.
• An adult's heart contracts on
average 72 times a minute, pumping
about 70 milliliters of blood with
each contraction.
• As the figure shows, the heart is
divided into four chambers.
• A wall called the septum separates
the right side of the heart from the
left side. The septum prevents
oxygen-poor and oxygen-rich blood
from mixing.
• On each side of the septum is an
upper and lower chamber. Each
upper chamber, or atrium receives
blood from the body.
• Each lower chamber, or ventricle,
pumps blood out of the heart.
Circulation
• The heart functions as two pumps.
• As shown in figure, one pump pushes
blood to the lungs, while the other pump
pushes blood to the rest of the body.
• The right side of the heart pumps oxygen-
poor blood from the heart to the lungs
through the pulmonary circulation.
• In the lungs, carbon dioxide diffuses from
the blood, and oxygen is absorbed into
the blood.
• Oxygen-rich blood then flows to the left
side of the heart.
Circulation
• The left side of the heart pumps oxygen-rich
blood to the rest of the body through the
systemic circulation.
• Cells absorb the oxygen that they need and load
the blood with carbon dioxide by the time it
returns to the heart.
• Blood leaves the heart to go to the rest of the
body through the aorta, the first of a series of
vessels that carries blood through the systemic
circulation.
• As blood flows through the circulatory system, it
moves through three types of blood vessels—
arteries, capillaries, and veins.
Arteries
• Large vessels, or arteries, carry
blood from the heart to the
tissues of the body.
• Except for the pulmonary
arteries, all arteries carry oxygen-
rich blood.
• Arteries have thick elastic walls
that help them withstand the
powerful pressure produced
when the heart contracts and
pumps blood through them.
Capillaries
• The smallest blood vessels
are the capillaries.
• Most capillaries are so
narrow that blood cells pass
through them in a single file.
• Their thin walls allow oxygen
and nutrients to diffuse from
blood into tissues and allow
carbon dioxide and other
waste products to move
from tissues into blood.
Veins
• After blood passes through the
capillaries, it returns to the heart
through veins.
• Many veins are located near and
between skeletal muscles.
• When you move, the contracting
skeletal muscles squeeze the veins.
• Many veins contain valves, which
ensure blood flows in one direction
through these vessels toward the heart.
Blood
• In addition to serving as the body's
transportation system, components of
blood also help regulate body
temperature, fight infections, and
produce clots to minimize the loss of
body fluids from wounds.
• The human body contains 4 to 6 liters of
blood.
• About 55 percent of total blood volume is
a fluid called plasma.
• Plasma is about 90 percent water and 10
percent dissolved gases, salts, nutrients,
enzymes, plasma proteins, cholesterol,
and other compounds.
Blood
• Plasma proteins consist of three types—
albumin, globulins, and fibrinogen.
• Albumin and globulins transport
substances such as fatty acids, hormones,
and vitamins.
• Albumin also plays an important role in
balancing osmotic pressure between blood
plasma and surrounding tissues.
• Some globulins fight viral and bacterial
infections.
• Fibrinogen is necessary for blood to clot.
Blood
• The most numerous cells in
blood are red blood cells, or
erythrocytes.
• The main function of red
blood cells is to transport
oxygen.
• Red blood cells are produced
by cells in the bone marrow.
• As they mature and fill with
hemoglobin, nuclei and
other organelles are forced
out.
Blood
• White blood cells, or leukocytes are the
"army" of the circulatory system.
• These cells guard against infection, fight
parasites, and attack bacteria.
• Different types of white blood cells
perform different protective functions.
• For example, macrophages engulf
pathogens.
• Lymphocytes are involved in the immune
response.
• B lymphocytes produce antibodies that
fight infection and provide immunity.
• T lymphocytes help fight tumors and
viruses.
• In a healthy person, red blood cells
outnumber white blood cells by almost
1000 to 1.
• Minor cuts and scrapes bleed for a bit and then stop. Why?
• Because platelets and plasma proteins cause blood to clot.
Blood • Platelets are formed when the cytoplasm of particular bone marrow cells
breaks apart into tiny membrane-enclosed fragments that then enter the
blood.