Human circulatory system

Hyderabad: Human circulatory system, also called the blood vascular system consists of a muscular chambered heart, a network of closed branching blood vessels and blood, the fluid which is circulated.

The Heart

The Heart, the mesodermally derived organ, is situated in the thoracic cavity, in between the two lungs, slightly tilted to the left.

It has the size of a clenched fist. It is protected by a double walled membranous bag, pericardium, enclosing the pericardial fluid.

Our heart has four chambers, two relatively small upper chambers called atria and two larger lower chambers called ventricles.

A thin, muscular wall called the inter-atrial septum separates the right and the left atria, whereas a thick-walled, the inter-ventricular septum, separates the left and the right ventricles.
The atrium and the ventricle of the same side are also separated by a thick fibrous tissue called the atrio-ventricular septum. However, each of these septa are provided with an opening through which the two chambers of the same side are connected.

The opening between the right atrium and the right ventricle is guarded by a valve formed of three muscular flaps or cusps, the tricuspid valve, whereas a bicuspid or mitral valve guards the opening between the left atrium and the left ventricle.

The openings of the right and the left ventricles into the pulmonary artery and the aorta respectively are provided with the semilunar valves.

The valves in the heart allows the flow of blood only in one direction, i.e., from the atria to the ventricles and from the ventricles to the pulmonary artery or aorta.

These valves prevent any backward flow. The entire heart is made of cardiac muscles. The walls of ventricles are much thicker than that of the atria.