The
Circulatory System
The following questions
will
help you to review the material from the lecture and the text.
- What is the function of
the circulatory
system in animals? What kinds of physiological tasks are
accomplished
by
the system?
- Give five examples of
molecules/compunds
transported by the circulatory system in animals?
- Some animals do not have
a circulatory
system. Why is that?
- Discuss the relationship
between
surface area and volume. How does this concept apply to the
circulatory
system?
- What is the difference
between
an open and a closed circulatory system? Give examples of animals in
which
these systems are found.
- Describe the circulatory
system
in fishes, amphibians, reptiles (recall that Crocodilians have
system
more
similar to birds/mammals), birds and mammals.
- How does the blood flow
in the
circulatory system of a fish? A frog? A lizard? A crocodile? A hawk?
A
zebra?
- How are these systems
similar
to each other? How do they differ from each other?
- Describe the different
types of
blood vessels that you encounter in a vertebrate. How do these
vessels
differ from each other from an anatomical perspective? Can you
relate
their
anatomy to their specific function in the circulatory system?
- What is blood pressure?
How is
it measured? What are you actually measuring when you measure the
blood
pressure of an individual?
- How does the blood
pressure vary
between arteries, capillaries and veins? Explain.
- What is the difference
between
systolic and diastolic blood pressure?
- Why do large arteries
contain
a large amount of elastic connective tissue?
- What is the function of
valves
in veins? Describe how they function in the circulatory system.
- Tissues and organs do
not need
the same amount of blood flow. The demand can also vary depending on
movement
or other processes occurring in the body. How is the flow of blood
controlled?
- Which type of blood
vessel contain
the highest volume of blood at any given time?
- Describe the overall
anatomy of
a human heart in terms of its location in the human body.
- Describe the anatomy of
a human
heart. Name chambers, large vessels as well as the names of the
valves.
- What is the function of
the valves
in the heart?
- What is heart murmur?
- Describe the flow of
blood in
the heart.
- Imagine a red blood cell
present
in your brain. The cell returns towards the heart. Which chamber of
the
heart will this blood cell first encounter?
- Imagine a red blood cell
in the
pulmonary artery. Which chamber of the heart will this blood cell
first
encounter?
- Describe the heart cycle
in a
human.
- What is the role of the
SA node
in heart contraction? The AV node. What do the terms stand for?
- Describe how the signals
generated
by the SA node triggers a sequential contraction of the heart
muscle.
- What is an ECG/EKG? What
does
it measure? What can you learn from an ECG/EKG?
- What is atherosclerosis?
What
are the possible consequences of atherosclerosis?
- What kind of factors are
involved
in triggering this disease?
- What is the difference
between
a stroke and a heart attack? What are the possible medical
treatments
for
either of these?
Links:
Illustrations:
