Heart

Describe the size, shape, location and orientation of the heart in the thorax.

Describe the functions of the heart, arteries, arterioles, capillary beds, venules, and veins.

Name the pericardial layers.

Describe the structure and function of the three layers of the heart wall.

Name and describe the four heart chambers and the great vessels that carry blood in and out of each chamber. 

Describe the pulmonary circulation and the systemic circulation. Why do humans have two separate circulations? Trace the pathway of blood through the heart.

Name the heart valves and describe their location, function, and mechanism of action. Why are these valves described as "passive flap valves?"

Explain the location and role of the coronary arteries.

Compare and contrast skeletal muscle and cardiac muscle. Draw a graph of the cardiac muscle cell action potential. Explain how it differs from the action potential in the axon of a neuron.

Name the components of the electrical conduction system of the heart and trace the conduction pathway.  Explain the functions of the sinoatrial node, atrioventricular node, atrioventricular bundle, and Purkinje fibers.

Explain what an ECG is. Draw a diagram of a normal ECG tracing -- label the individual waves and explain the physiological events in the heart that cause each one. Explain how ECG's can be used diagnostically.

Define heart block, fibrillation, tachycardia, and bradycardia.

Explain what causes the heart sounds.

Describe the autonomic innervation of the heart and explain how it modifies the basic heart rhythm.

Define systole, diastole, and cardiac cycle. Describe the timing and events of the cardiac cycle. Explain how pressure changes drive blood flow through and out of the heart.

Define cardiac output and stroke volume. Briefly describe some ways to change cardiac output.

Explain (or diagram) the path blood takes through the heart. Start at the left ventricle and list all the chambers, great vessels, capillary beds, and valves that blood would travel through as it completes a full circuit of the body. 

Compare and contrast action potentials in neurons and cardiomyocytes.

Draw an ECG, and explain what is happening to the heart at each waveform. Describe how THAT drives the mechanical events in the cardiac cycle.

What causes the two main heart sounds heard in a stethoscope? Describe the phase of cardiac contraction during each sound.

Describe how the valves coordinate unidirectional flow of blood in conjunction with the contraction of the myocardium. Discuss all the phases of the cardiac cycle, and how pressure changes and valves lead to proper flow.

What is cardiac output? Write out the equation for CO. Describe each part of that equation, and how alterations in each part will affect CO.