Week 2: Blood Flow Through the Heart

What type of blood vessel always carries blood away from the heart?

Arteries

What type of blood vessel carries blood back toward the heart?

Veins

Which thin vessels perform material exchange between blood and tissues?

Capillaries

Which vessels remove excess interstitial fluid and return it to the bloodstream?

Lymphatic vessels

The left atrium is part of which circuit and receives what kind of blood?

Systemic circuit; oxygenated blood from the lungs

The right atrium is part of which circuit and receives what kind of blood?

Pulmonary circuit; deoxygenated blood from the body

What is the primary job of the ventricles?

To pump (vacate) blood out of the heart

Through what category of valve does blood pass from each atrium to its ventricle?

Atrioventricular (AV) valves

Which valve regulates flow from the right atrium to the right ventricle?

Right AV (tricuspid) valve

Which valve regulates flow from the left atrium to the left ventricle?

Left AV (bicuspid or mitral) valve

Name the two semilunar valves and their shared function.

Pulmonary and aortic valves; they prevent backflow from the great vessels into the ventricles

Which arteries and veins are the only ones that carry deoxygenated arterial blood and oxygenated venous blood, respectively?

Pulmonary arteries (deoxygenated) and pulmonary veins (oxygenated) — the other pair with reversed content are the umbilical vessels

Which large vessel distributes oxygenated blood from the left ventricle to the systemic circulation?

Aorta

Which vessels supply oxygen-rich blood to the heart muscle itself?

Coronary arteries

What is another name for a heart attack, and what causes it?

Myocardial infarction; blockage of a coronary artery cutting off blood to part of the heart muscle