Heart Dissection Videos

Our tour of the heart video is here. Our cardiac cycle explanation is here.

Heart Dissection Lab Questions

1. The purpose of the pericardium is to hold the heart in place, protect it, and stop it from literally exploding from the pressure.
2. Arteries have thicker walls than veins do.
3. The auricle is meant to expand, giving the atria more volume to hold blood.
4. The left ventricle looks and feels harder and slightly larger than the right.
5. a) The coronary sinus is a large vein on the posterior of the heart that collect blood from the coronary artery and sends it back to the right atrium.
    b) The inferior vena cava brings the oxygen deprived blood from the lower body back to the heart.
    c) The tricuspid valve, or Right Atrioventricular Valve separates the right atrium and ventricle to prevent back-flow.
6.

Right side of heart (tricuspid valve + chordae tendinae and papillary muscles)

7. The "anchoring" of the valves in the heart by the chordate tendinae  and the papillary muscles is important because it makes sure there is no back-flow of blood causing lack of blood floe to body or malfunctions in the heart.
8.

Left side of heart

9. The semi lunar valves between the right and left ventricles and pulmonary artery and aorta respectively, is to prevent back-flow of blood back into the ventricles from the arteries.
10. a) If there is a malfunction in the right side of the heart and a swelling of the feet occurs, it means that blood isn't properly being taken from the lower extremities by the inferior vena cava into the right atrium and right ventricles. If there is back flow in this area, oxygen deprived blood is stuck in the body.
      b) If there was a valve defect in the left side of the heart, the heart would not be properly transporting blood to the rest of the body and the body's cells would be starved of oxygen and die.
11.

12. The right side of the heart receives oxygen deprived blood from the body and send it to the lungs to get oxygen. The left side of the heart receives the oxygen rich blood from the lungs and sends it to the rest of the body.
13.

Cross Section of Heart

Unit 3 Reflection

The heart my group drew in chalk.

This unit was all about the circulatory system and transporting nutrients around the body and the different things that happen when parts of it malfunction or are blocked. All systems in the body are connected and many are connected to the circulatory system. The center of it is the heart which pumps blood into the arteries to send around the body and to the lungs. The heart is a large muscle made of cardiac muscle tissue that has its own sort of brain called the SA Node that controls the rhythm. To have a healthy circulatory system, blood needs to be able to flow without stress throughout the body and the heart needs to beat regularly. Atherosclerosis is when plaque builds up in the arteries, making the path for blood to flow through smaller, putting more pressure on the artery walls. Heart attacks and strokes occur when the heart stops functioning normally because of a blood clot in the coronary artery or in the brain causing the heart to stop functioning. 

The keep a healthy circulatory system and also respiratory system because the oxygen our blood transports come from our lungs there are a few thing to keep in mind. As always, eating healthy and exercise are hugely beneficial for your system because it keeps your blood flowing nicely and helps prevent clots form forming in the blood stream. Another major thing is don't smoke! The nicotine in cigarettes are a vasoconstrictor making your heart work harder to transport blood around and also it hurts your lungs, a lot. 

This unit I loved learning about the many different parts of the heart and their purposes. I find naming all the different structures in the heart fascinating and seeing how they connect. One thing I struggled with was the different types of blood cells and also keeping heart attacks and strokes straight. In many ways they are similar but they are very different and I kept confusing them. Dissecting the sheep heart was very informative because it showed that hearts are perfect like in drawings, they are actual 3D objects that aren't color coded. I am to, for the rest of the semester, to make sure I find the connections in how everything relates back to health because that is were I am struggling.