The circulatory system is responsible for moving blood that can transport the two gases, oxygen and carbon dioxide. The vehicle for moving these gases are the red blood cells which have a protein in them called hemoglobin. In the center of the circulatory system is the heart.2 The heart has four chambers divided into two categories: the atria (the top two chambers) and the ventricles (the bottom two chambers). If you follow a single red blood cell through the circulatory system under normal physiologic circumstances, it will go something like this:
Starting in the venous side of the circulatory system, the red blood cell would have carbon dioxide that it picked up from tissue somewhere in the body. It needs to offload it in the lungs.
The red blood cell would travel through the inferior or superior vena cava into the right atrium.
It would then move through the tricuspid valve into the right ventricle.
Then the red blood cell would go up through the pulmonary valve into the pulmonary artery.
The red blood cell would arrive in the capillaries of the lungs and would be free to offload carbon dioxide and pick up oxygen.
The red blood cell would then travel down the pulmonary vein and enter the left atrium.
Then, it would go through the mitral valve into the left ventricle.
Finally, it would exit the heart through the aortic valve, into the aorta and head into the arterial side of the circulatory system ultimately to feed oxygen to another part of the body.
This review serves two purposes: to remind us that blood, for the most part, belongs in a closed system and that it needs to be constantly moving in the circulatory system in order to serve its intended purpose.
Yes.
The circulatory system is responsible for moving blood that can transport the two gases, oxygen and carbon dioxide. The vehicle for moving these gases are the red blood cells which have a protein in them called hemoglobin. In the center of the circulatory system is the heart.2 The heart has four chambers divided into two categories: the atria (the top two chambers) and the ventricles (the bottom two chambers). If you follow a single red blood cell through the circulatory system under normal physiologic circumstances, it will go something like this:
Starting in the venous side of the circulatory system, the red blood cell would have carbon dioxide that it picked up from tissue somewhere in the body. It needs to offload it in the lungs. The red blood cell would travel through the inferior or superior vena cava into the right atrium. It would then move through the tricuspid valve into the right ventricle. Then the red blood cell would go up through the pulmonary valve into the pulmonary artery. The red blood cell would arrive in the capillaries of the lungs and would be free to offload carbon dioxide and pick up oxygen. The red blood cell would then travel down the pulmonary vein and enter the left atrium. Then, it would go through the mitral valve into the left ventricle. Finally, it would exit the heart through the aortic valve, into the aorta and head into the arterial side of the circulatory system ultimately to feed oxygen to another part of the body. This review serves two purposes: to remind us that blood, for the most part, belongs in a closed system and that it needs to be constantly moving in the circulatory system in order to serve its intended purpose.