Name: Tuliao, Ma. Catherine S.

Student Number: 61901116

Heart Dissection

Background:
The heart is a four-chambered, hollow organ composed primarily of
cardiac muscle tissue. It is located in the center of the chest in between the
lungs. It is the main organ of the circulatory system. It contracts rhythmically,
pumping blood into the arteries. After passing through tissues, blood returns to
the heart by way of the veins. Cardiac muscle is a type of involuntary striated
muscle found within the heart. Its function is to pump blood through the
circulatory system through muscular contraction.
In this lab you will be dissecting a preserved pig heart. Preserved pig
hearts are the most commonly dissected mammalian heart. The pig heart is very
similar to a human heart, in that they both contain four chambers, and are
similar in size. Since the pig heart and the human heart are so alike, you will be
dissecting the pig heart in this dissection lab.

Objectives:

Learn about the heart as an important organ in our body

Learn the many different structures associated with the heart including both
external and internal structures
Learn the functions of the different structures inside of the heart
Materials:
One pig heart

Dissection Tools
Dissection tray

Gloves

Procedure: EXTERNAL

1. Go to the bucket and get yourself a pig heart. Rinse off the excess
preservative with tap water and run water into the larger blood vessels to force
any blood clots out of the heart chambers. Pat the heart dry and place it in your
dissection tray.
2. It is important to know that the heart is usually covered in adipose tissue. Your
specimen may have arrived with the adipose tissue already having been
removed.
3. Before cutting into the heart, carefully observe the external heart. Locate the
thin membrane or pericardium that still covers the heart. The pericardium or
pericardial sac, is a double layered closed sac that surrounds the heart and
anchors it. The pericardium consists of two tissues layers which are continuous
with each other where the vessels enter or leave the heart. The slender gap
between the parietal & visceral surfaces is the pericardial cavity & is filled with
fluid to reduce friction between the layers as the heart pumps.
4. After examining the pericardium, carefully remove this tissue. Located below
the pericardium is the muscle of your heart called the called the myocardium.
Most of the myocardium is located in the lower two chambers of the heart
called ventricles.

5. Locate the tip of the heart or the apex. Only the left ventricle extends all the
way to the apex.
6. Place the heart in the dissecting pan so that the front or ventral side is towards
you (the major blood vessels are on the top and the apex is down). The front of
the heart is recognized by a groove that extends from the right side of the
broad end of the heart diagonally to a point above & to your left of the apex.
7. The heart is now in the pan in the position it would be in a body as you face
the body. Locate the following chambers of the heart from this surface:
 Left atrium - upper chamber to your right
Left ventricle - lower chamber to your right

Right atrium - upper chamber to your left

8. While the heart is still in this position in the dissecting pan, locate these blood
vessels at the broad end of the heart:
Coronary artery - this blood vessel lies in the groove on the front of the heart &
it branches over the front & the back side of the heart to supply fresh blood with
oxygen & nutrients to the heart muscle itself.
Pulmonary artery - this blood vessel branches & carries blood to the lungs to
receive oxygen & can be found curving out of the right ventricle (lower
chamber to your left)
Aorta - major vessel located near the right atria & just behind the pulmonary
arteries to the lungs.
Locate the curved part of this vessel known as the aortic arch. Branching from
the aortic arch is a large artery that supplies blood to the upper body.
Pulmonary veins - these vessels return oxygenated blood from the right & left
lungs to the left atrium (upper chamber on your right)
Inferior & Superior Vena Cava - these two blood vessels are located on your
left of the heart and connect to the right atrium (upper chamber on your left).
Deoxygenated blood enters the body through these vessels into the right
receiving chamber. Use your probe to feel down into the right atrium. These
vessels do not contain valves to control blood flow.
9. Describe the function of all the external structures of the heart. Record your
data in Data Table 1.

Procedure: INTERNAL
1. Use scissors to cut through the side of the pulmonary artery and continue
cutting down into the wall of the right ventricle. Be careful to just cut deep
enough to go through the wall of the heart chamber. (Your cutting line should
be above & parallel to the groove of the coronary artery.)

2. With your fingers, push open the heart at the cut to examine the internal
structure. If there is dried blood inside the chambers, rinse out the heart.
3. Locate the right atrium. Notice the thinner muscular wall of this receiving
chamber.

4. Find where the inferior & superior vena cava enter this chamber & notice the
lack of valves.

5. Locate the valve between the right atrium and right ventricle. This is called the
tricuspid valve. The valve consists of three leaflets & has long fibers of
connective tissue called chordae tendinae that attach it to papillary muscles of
the heart. This valve allows blood flow from the right atrium into the right
ventricle during diastole (period when the heart is relaxed). When the heart
begins to contract (systole phase), ventricular pressure increases until it is greater
than the pressure in the atrium causing the tricuspid to snap closed.
6. Use your fingers to feel the thickness of the right ventricle and its smooth lining.
Also note the network of irregular muscular cords on the inner wall of this
chamber.
7. Find the septum on the right side of the right ventricle. This thick muscular wall
separates the right & left pumping ventricles from each other.
8. Inside the right ventricle, locate the pulmonary artery that carries blood away
from this chamber. Find the one-way valve called the pulmonary valve that
controls blood flow away from the right ventricle at the entrance to this blood
vessel.

9. Using your scissors, continue to cut open the heart. Start a cut on the outside
of the left atrium downward into the left ventricle cutting toward the apex to the
septum at the center groove. Push open the heart at this cut with your fingers &
rinse out any dried blood with water.
10. Examine the left atrium. Find the openings of the pulmonary veins from the
lungs. Observe the one-way, semi-lunar valves at the entrance to these veins.
11. Inside this chamber, look for the valve that controls blood flow between the
left atrium and left ventricle.

This valve is called the bicuspid or mitral valve. This valve consists of two leaflets
& blood flows from the left atrium into the left ventricle during diastole.

12. Examine the left ventricle. Notice the thickness of the ventricular wall. This
heart chamber is responsible for pumping blood throughout the body.
13. Using your scissors, cut across the left ventricle toward the aorta & continue
cutting to expose the valve.
14. Count the three flaps or leaflets on this valve leading from the left ventricle
into the aorta and note their half-moon shape. This is called the aortic valve.

15. Using scissors, cut through the aorta and examine the inside. Find the hole or
coronary sinus in the wall of this major artery. This leads into the coronary artery
which carries blood to and nourishes the heart muscle itself.
16. You should now be able to identify and describe the functions of the
structures in Data Table 2.

Structures that were in Data Table 1 are not repeated; but you should still be
able to identify them from the cut view of the heart.

Name: ______________________________ Date:____________ Period:_____

Make a
checkmark in Function
Structure this column if (2 points each)
you found the
structure
Left Atrium It receives oxygenated blood from
the pulmonary veins and pumps it
towards left ventricle via the
bicuspid valve.
Left Ventricle It receives oxygenated blood from
the left atrium via the bicuspid
valve and via the aortic valve, it
pumps the oxygenated blood into
the aorta.
Right Atrium From the body, the right atrium
receives deoxygenated blood
through the vena cava and
pumps it into the right ventricle
and then sends it to the lungs to
be oxygenated.
Right Ventricle It pumps the deoxygenated blood
up through the pulmonary
semilunar valve and through the
 pulmonary arteries and to the
lungs.
Coronary Artery It provides fresh blood with oxygen
and nutrients to the heart muscle
itself.
Pulmonary Artery It carries blood to the lungs to get
oxygen.
Aorta It carries and distributes
oxygenated blood to all arteries
and the rest of the human body.
Pulmonary Vein Carries oxygenated blood from
lungs to the left atrium.
Superior & Inferior Vena It delivers deoxygenated blood
Cava from systemic circulation to the
heart.

Table 2: Internal Heart

Make a
checkmark in Function
Structure this column if (2 points each)
you found the
structure
Tricuspid Valve It prevents the deoxygenated
blood from right ventricle to flow
back into the right atrium.
Mitral Valve It prevents the oxygenated blood
(bicuspid valve) from the left ventricle to flow back
into the left atrium.
Aortic Semilunar Valve It prevents the oxygenated blood
from the aorta to flow back into
the left ventricle.
Septum It is the muscular wall that divides
the left and right atria and
ventricles.
Data Analysis and Conclusions
1. Why are the walls of the left ventricle thicker than the walls of the right
ventricle? (8 points)
- The left ventricle pumps blood through the whole body that’s why it has more
muscle and thicker compared to the right ventricle. While the right ventricle only
pumps blood to the lungs.
2. Pulmonary circulation carries blood between the heart and the lungs.
Systemic circulation carries blood to the rest of the body. In what chambers of
the heart does pulmonary circulation begin and end? In what chambers does
systemic circulation begin and end? (8 points)

- The pulmonary circulation starts in the right ventricle and ends in the left atrium.
While the systematic circulation starts in left ventricle and ends in right atrium.

3. NUMBER the following structures in the order in which blood passes through
them – Start with the valve through which blood exits from the right atrium. (0.5
points each)

a. Aorta 11
b. Aortic semilunar valve 10

c. Left ventricle 8
d. Lungs 6
e. Mitral valve 9

f. Pulmonary semilunar valve 3

k. Tricuspid valve 3
l. Pulmonary veins 4
m. Left atrium 7
4. Fill in the blanks (4 points each)
a. The bicuspid valve is also known as the mitral valve.

b. One-way flow of blood from the right ventricle is ensured by the presence of
the pulmonary semilunar valve.

c. Mitral valve prolapse, which is abnormal, may allow blood to enter the left
ventricle/atrium.
d. The interventricular septum is a muscular wall between the left and right
ventricles.
e. The pericardium is the name of the sac that surrounds the heart
f. The bulk of the heart rests on the left side of the body.

g. The following chambers of the heart function to receive blood from the veins:
right atrium and left atrium.
h. The aorta is the largest artery of the human body.
5. What function does the adipose tissue surrounding the heart serve? (8 points)
- The adipose tissue surrounding the heart acts as an insulating layer, fat, stores
energy, protects the heart.
6. Compare the thickness of the wall of the superior and inferior vena cava and
the aorta? Which is thicker and why? (8 points)
- Compare to the two, aorta has thicker walls. The aorta consists several layers to
withstand the high blood pressure that it carries that’s it is thicker than the
superior and inferior vena cava. The superior and inferior vena cava has a lower
blood pressure compared to the aorta.