In , the circulatory system is a organ system that includes the heart, , and blood which is circulated throughout the body.
It includes the cardiovascular system, or vascular system, that consists of the heart and blood vessels (from Greek kardia meaning heart, and Latin vascula meaning vessels). The circulatory system has two divisions, a systemic circulation or circuit, and a pulmonary circulation or circuit. Some sources use the terms cardiovascular system and vascular system interchangeably with circulatory system.The network of blood vessels are the great vessels of the heart including large elastic arteries, and large ; other arteries, smaller , capillaries that join with (small veins), and other veins. The circulatory system is closed in vertebrates, which means that the blood never leaves the network of blood vessels. Many such as have an open circulatory system with a heart that pumps a hemolymph which returns via the body cavity rather than via blood vessels. such as sponges and comb jellies lack a circulatory system.
Blood is a Body fluid consisting of blood plasma, red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets; it is circulated around the body carrying oxygen and to the tissues and collecting and disposing of Metabolic waste. Circulated nutrients include proteins and minerals and other components include hemoglobin, , and such as oxygen and carbon dioxide. These substances provide nourishment, help the immune system to fight diseases, and help maintain homeostasis by Thermoregulation and natural pH.
In vertebrates, the lymphatic system is complementary to the circulatory system. The lymphatic system carries excess plasma (filtered from the circulatory system capillaries as interstitial fluid between cells) away from the body tissues via accessory routes that return excess fluid back to blood circulation as lymph.
The lymphatic system is a subsystem that is essential for the functioning of the blood circulatory system; without it the blood would become depleted of fluid.The lymphatic system also works with the immune system.
The circulatory system can be affected by many cardiovascular diseases. are medical professionals which specialise in the heart, and cardiothoracic surgeons specialise in operating on the heart and its surrounding areas. focus on disorders of the blood vessels, and lymphatic vessels.
Further circulatory routes are associated, such as the coronary circulation to the heart itself, the cerebral circulation to the brain, renal circulation to the , and bronchial circulation to the bronchi in the lungs. The human circulatory system is closed, meaning that the blood is contained within the blood vessels.
Nutrients travel through tiny blood vessels of the microcirculation to reach organs. The lymphatic system is an essential subsystem of the circulatory system consisting of a network of , lymph nodes, lymphatic organs, tissues and circulating lymph. This subsystem is an open system. A major function is to carry the lymph, draining and returning interstitial fluid into the back to the heart for return to the circulatory system. Another major function is working together with the immune system to provide defense against .
Oxygen-deprived blood from the superior and inferior vena cava enters the right atrium of the heart and flows through the tricuspid valve (right atrioventricular valve) into the right ventricle, from which it is then pumped through the pulmonary semilunar valve into the pulmonary artery to the lungs. Gas exchange occurs in the lungs, whereby is released from the blood, and oxygen is absorbed. The pulmonary vein returns the now oxygen-rich blood to the left atrium.
A separate circuit from the systemic circulation, the bronchial circulation supplies blood to the tissue of the larger airways of the lung.
The walls of the aorta are elastic. This elasticity helps to maintain the blood pressure throughout the body.
When the aorta receives almost five litres of blood from the heart, it recoils and is responsible for pulsating blood pressure. As the aorta branches into smaller arteries, their elasticity goes on decreasing and their compliance goes on increasing.
The dorsal aortae, present on the dorsal side of the embryo, are initially present on both sides of the embryo. They later fuse to form the basis for the aorta itself. Approximately thirty smaller arteries branch from this at the back and sides. These branches form the intercostal arteries, arteries of the arms and legs, lumbar arteries and the lateral sacral arteries. Branches to the sides of the aorta will form the definitive Renal artery, suprarenal and Gonadal artery. Finally, branches at the front of the aorta consist of the vitelline arteries and umbilical arteries. The vitelline arteries form the Celiac artery, superior and inferior mesenteric arteries of the gastrointestinal tract. After birth, the umbilical arteries will form the internal iliac arteries.
Many of these diseases are called "lifestyle diseases" because they develop over time and are related to a person's exercise habits, diet, whether they smoke, and other lifestyle choices a person makes. Atherosclerosis is the precursor to many of these diseases. It is where small Atheroma build up in the walls of medium and large arteries. This may eventually grow or rupture to occlude the arteries. It is also a risk factor for acute coronary syndromes, which are diseases that are characterised by a sudden deficit of oxygenated blood to the heart tissue. Atherosclerosis is also associated with problems such as aneurysm formation or splitting ("dissection") of arteries.
Another major cardiovascular disease involves the creation of a Thrombus. These can originate in veins or arteries. Deep venous thrombosis, which mostly occurs in the legs, is one cause of clots in the veins of the legs, particularly when a person has been stationary for a long time. These clots may Embolus, meaning travel to another location in the body. The results of this may include pulmonary embolus, transient ischaemic attacks, or stroke.
Cardiovascular diseases may also be congenital in nature, such as heart defects or persistent fetal circulation, where the circulatory changes that are supposed to happen after birth do not. Not all congenital changes to the circulatory system are associated with diseases, a large number are anatomical variations.
Other more invasive means can also be used. A cannula or catheter inserted into an artery may be used to measure pulse pressure or pulmonary wedge pressures. Angiography, which involves injecting a dye into an artery to visualise an arterial tree, can be used in the heart (coronary angiography) or brain. At the same time as the arteries are visualised, blockages or narrowings may be fixed through the insertion of , and active bleeds may be managed by the insertion of coils. An MRI may be used to image arteries, called an MRI angiogram. For evaluation of the blood supply to the lungs a CT pulmonary angiogram may be used. Vascular ultrasonography may be used to investigate affecting the venous system and the arterial system including the diagnosis of stenosis, thrombosis or venous insufficiency. An intravascular ultrasound using a catheter is also an option.
Cardiovascular procedures are more likely to be performed in an inpatient setting than in an ambulatory care setting; in the United States, only 28% of cardiovascular surgeries were performed in the ambulatory care setting.
An additional transport system, the lymphatic system, which is only found in animals with a closed blood circulation, is an open system providing an accessory route for excess interstitial fluid to be returned to the blood.
The blood vascular system first appeared probably in an ancestor of the triploblasts over 600 million years ago, overcoming the time-distance constraints of diffusion, while endothelium evolved in an ancestral vertebrate some 540–510 million years ago.
Hemolymph fills all of the interior hemocoel of the body and surrounds all cells. Hemolymph is composed of water, inorganic salts (mostly sodium, chloride, potassium, magnesium, and calcium), and organic compounds (mostly carbohydrates, , and ). The primary oxygen transporter molecule is hemocyanin.
There are free-floating cells, the hemocytes, within the hemolymph. They play a role in the arthropod immune system.
In fish, the system has only one circuit, with the blood being pumped through the capillaries of the and on to the capillaries of the body tissues. This is known as single cycle circulation. The heart of fish is, therefore, only a single pump (consisting of two chambers).
In amphibians and most reptiles, a double circulatory system is used, but the heart is not always completely separated into two pumps. Amphibians have a three-chambered heart.
In reptiles, the ventricular septum of the heart is incomplete and the pulmonary artery is equipped with a sphincter muscle. This allows a second possible route of blood flow. Instead of blood flowing through the pulmonary artery to the lungs, the sphincter may be contracted to divert this blood flow through the incomplete ventricular septum into the left ventricle and out through the aorta. This means the blood flows from the capillaries to the heart and back to the capillaries instead of to the lungs. This process is useful to ectothermic (cold-blooded) animals in the regulation of their body temperature.
Mammals, birds and show complete separation of the heart into two pumps, for a total of four heart chambers; it is thought that the four-chambered heart of birds and crocodilians evolved independently from that of mammals. Double circulatory systems permit blood to be repressurized after returning from the lungs, speeding up delivery of oxygen to tissues.
Some animals, such as jellyfish, have more extensive branching from their gastrovascular cavity (which functions as both a place of digestion and a form of circulation), this branching allows for bodily fluids to reach the outer layers, since the digestion begins in the inner layers.
In the 6th century BCE, the knowledge of circulation of vital fluids through the body was known to the Ayurveda physician Sushruta in ancient India. He also seems to have possessed knowledge of the arteries, described as 'channels' by Dwivedi & Dwivedi (2007).Dwivedi, Girish & Dwivedi, Shridhar (2007). "History of Medicine: Sushruta – the Clinician – Teacher par Excellence" , Indian J Chest Dis Allied Sci Vol. 49 pp. 243–244, National Informatics Centre (Government of India). The first major ancient Greek research into the circulatory system was completed by Plato in the Timaeus, who argues that blood circulates around the body in accordance with the general rules that govern the motions of the elements in the body; accordingly, he does not place much importance in the heart itself.See Timaeus 77a–81e. For a scholarly discussion, see Douglas R. Campbell, "Irrigating Blood: Plato on the Circulatory System, the Cosmos, and Elemental Motion," Journal of the History of Philosophy 62 (4): 519–541. 2024. See also Francis Cornford, Plato's Cosmology: The Timaeus of Plato, Indianapolis: Hackett, 1997. The Heart valve were discovered by a physician of the Hippocrates
The Greek physician, Herophilus, distinguished veins from arteries but thought that the pulse was a property of arteries themselves. Greek anatomist Erasistratus observed that arteries that were cut during life bleed. He ascribed the fact to the phenomenon that air escaping from an artery is replaced with blood that enters between veins and arteries by very small vessels. Thus he apparently postulated capillaries but with reversed flow of blood.
In 2nd-century AD Rome, the Greek physician Galen knew that blood vessels carried blood and identified venous (dark red) and arterial (brighter and thinner) blood, each with distinct and separate functions. Growth and energy were derived from venous blood created in the liver from chyle, while arterial blood gave vitality by containing pneuma (air) and originated in the heart. Blood flowed from both creating organs to all parts of the body where it was consumed and there was no return of blood to the heart or liver. The heart did not pump blood around, the heart's motion sucked blood in during diastole and the blood moved by the pulsation of the arteries themselves. Galen believed that the arterial blood was created by venous blood passing from the left ventricle to the right by passing through 'pores' in the interventricular septum, air passed from the lungs via the pulmonary artery to the left side of the heart. As the arterial blood was created 'sooty' vapors were created and passed to the lungs also via the pulmonary artery to be exhaled.
In 1025, The Canon of Medicine by the Persian physician, Avicenna, "erroneously accepted the Greek notion regarding the existence of a hole in the ventricular septum by which the blood traveled between the ventricles." Despite this, Avicenna "correctly wrote on the and valvular function", and "had a vision of blood circulation" in his Treatise on Pulse. While also refining Galen's erroneous theory of the pulse, Avicenna provided the first correct explanation of pulsation: "Every beat of the pulse comprises two movements and two pauses. Thus, expansion : pause : contraction : pause. ... The pulse is a movement in the heart and arteries ... which takes the form of alternate expansion and contraction."
In 1242, the Arabian physician, Ibn al-Nafis described the process of pulmonary circulation in greater, more accurate detail than his predecessors, though he believed, as they did, in the notion of vital spirit (pneuma), which he believed was formed in the left ventricle. Ibn al-Nafis stated in his Commentary on Anatomy in Avicenna's Canon:
...the blood from the right chamber of the heart must arrive at the left chamber but there is no direct pathway between them. The thick septum of the heart is not perforated and does not have visible pores as some people thought or invisible pores as Galen thought. The blood from the right chamber must flow through the vena arteriosa (pulmonary artery) to the lungs, spread through its substances, be mingled there with air, pass through the arteria venosa (pulmonary vein) to reach the left chamber of the heart and there form the vital spirit...
In addition, Ibn al-Nafis had an insight into what later became a larger theory of the capillary circulation. He stated that "there must be small communications or pores ( manafidh in Arabic) between the pulmonary artery and vein," a prediction that preceded the discovery of the capillary system by more than 400 years. Ibn al-Nafis' theory was confined to blood transit in the lungs and did not extend to the entire body.
Michael Servetus was the first European to describe the function of pulmonary circulation, although his achievement was not widely recognized at the time, for a few reasons. He firstly described it in the "Manuscript of Paris"Gonzalez Etxeberria, Patxi (2011) Amor a la verdad, el – vida y obra de Miguel servet The. Navarro y Navarro, Zaragoza, collaboration with the Government of Navarra, Department of Institutional Relations and Education of the Government of Navarra. pp. 215–228 & 62nd illustration (XLVII) Michael Servetus Research Study with graphical proof on the Manuscript of Paris and many other manuscripts and new works by Servetus (near 1546), but this work was never published. And later he published this description, but in a theological treatise, Christianismi Restitutio'', not in a book on medicine. Only three copies of the book survived but these remained hidden for decades, the rest were burned shortly after its publication in 1553 because of persecution of Servetus by religious authorities.
A better known discovery of pulmonary circulation was by Vesalius's successor at Padua, Realdo Colombo, in 1559.
Finally, the English physician William Harvey, a pupil of Hieronymus Fabricius (who had earlier described the valves of the veins without recognizing their function), performed a sequence of experiments and published his Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus in 1628, which "demonstrated that there had to be a direct connection between the venous and arterial systems throughout the body, and not just the lungs. Most importantly, he argued that the beat of the heart produced a continuous circulation of blood through minute connections at the extremities of the body. This is a conceptual leap that was quite different from Ibn al-Nafis' refinement of the anatomy and bloodflow in the heart and lungs."Pormann, Peter E. and Smith, E. Savage (2007) Medieval Islamic medicine Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., p. 48, . This work, with its essentially correct exposition, slowly convinced the medical world. However, Harvey did not identify the capillary system connecting arteries and veins; this was discovered by Marcello Malpighi in 1661.
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