Cardiovascular system: The Heart
Purpose: The purpose is to be able to descirbe the external and internal anatomy of the heart and use of microscoppy dissection. As well as be able to identify the vessels involved in coronry circulation. Safety will include wearing goggles and apron to prevent any splatter.
Exercise 1: ( Slide)
Questions:
A. Where are some unique structral features of cardiac muscle?
- presence of irregularly-spaced dark bands between myocytes (intercalated discs) These allow free flow of action potentials between cells that create muscle contraction.
B. What are intercalated discs and what do they do?
- Specialized junctions between cells. Allow free flow of action potentials that create muscle contractions.
C. Why does cardiac muscle have to be both elastic and strong?
- The heart has to have both, elasticity and strength, and being opposing forces it alows the heart to do its function properly.
D. Which of the three layers of the heart did the tissue used to make your slide orginate from?
- Epicardium, Myocardium, and endocardium.
Exercise 2: The pulmonary and systemic circuits
A. Trace the flow of blood through the pulmonary and systemic circuits. Begin in the right atrium and end in the superior/inferior vena cava. Be sure to list every vessel, heart chamber, and heart valve the blood flows through.
-1. Venules
2. Veins
3. Inferior vena cava & superior vena cava
4. Right atrium
5. Tricuspid valve
6. Right Ventricle
7. Pulmonary semilunar valve
8. Pulmonary arteries
9. Lungs
10. Pulmonary veins
11. Left atrium
12. Mitral valve
13. Left ventricle
14. Aortic semilunar valve
15. Arteries
16. Arterioles
17. Capillaries
B. Explain what you learned from the online human heart dissection.
I learned how big the actual heart is. Its hard to believe that it is that big. Also learned where the pulmonary veins are located and where each ventricle is located.
Exercise 3: Sheep heart