Chapter 8

Transport in mammals
 Circulatory system

The system that contains the heart and the blood vessels and moves blood

throughout the body.

 The need for a circulatory system

 The cells of all living organisms need a constant supply of reactants for

metabolism, e.g. oxygen and glucose.

 Single-celled organisms can gain oxygen and glucose directly from their

surroundings, and the molecules can diffuse to all parts of the cell quickly due

to short diffusion distances.

 Larger organisms, however, are made up of many layers of cells, meaning that

the time taken for substances such as glucose and oxygen to diffuse to every cell

in the body would be far too long.

 To solve this problem their exchange surfaces are connected to a mass transport

system.

 For example, The digestive system is connected to the circulatory system, and the

lungs are connected to the circulatory system.

 Mass transport is the bulk movement of gases or liquids in one direction, usually

via a system of vessels and tubes.

 The circulatory system in mammals is a well-studied example of a mass transport

system; the one-way flow of blood within the blood vessels carries essential nutrients

and gases to all the cells of the body.

 Types of circulatory system

 Circulatory systems are either described as being open or closed.

 In a closed circulatory system, blood is pumped around the body and is

always contained within a network of blood vessels.

 All vertebrates and many invertebrates have closed circulatory systems.

 In an open circulatory system, blood is not contained within blood vessels

but is pumped directly into body cavities.

 Organisms such as arthropods and molluscs have open circulatory systems.

 Double circulation system

 Humans have closed Double circulation system

 A mechanism in which blood passes through the heart

twice on one complete circuit of the body. It is called a

double circulatory system because the blood flows

from the heart to the lungs, then back to the heart,

then around the rest of the body, and then back to

the heart again.

 Double circulation has two parts.

1. Systemic circulation: The part of the circulatory

system that carries blood from the heart to all of the

body except the lungs, and then back to the heart.

 Blood is pumped out of the left ventricle into the

aorta and travels from there to all parts of the body

except the lungs.

 It returns to the right side of the heart through the

vena cava.
2. Pulmonary circulation: The part of the

circulatory system that carries blood from the

heart to the lungs and then back to the heart.

 The blood is pumped out of the right ventricle into

the pulmonary arteries, which carry it to the lungs.

 The final part of the journey is along the

pulmonary veins, which return it to the left side of

the heart.
The pressure in the systemic circulation is considerably higher

than in the pulmonary circulation.

 Single circulatory system
A circulatory system in which the blood passes through the heart only once on a
complete circuit.
 Blood vessels

Three main types of vessels make up the circulatory system.

1. Arteries: these are vessels with thick, strong walls that carry high-pressure

oxygenated blood away from the heart.

 Small arteries are called arterioles.

 Large arteries are called aorta.

Only exception is the pulmonary artery which carries deoxygenated blood from the

heart to the lungs.

2. Veins: these are vessels with relatively thin walls that carry low-pressure

deoxygenated blood back to the heart.

 Small veins are called venules.

 Large veins are called vena cava. Vena cava has two types:

 Superior vena cava: carries blood from the head, chest, and upper extremities.

 Inferior vena cava: it is the body's largest vein that carries blood from all parts

of the body below the diaphragm.

Only exception is the pulmonary vein which carries oxygenated blood from the

lungs to the heart.

3. Capillaries: are tiny vessels that link arterioles and venules.

 It is the place where all the exchanges occur.

 Capillaries deliver nutrients, hormones, and other requirements to body

cells, and take away their waste products.

 Capillaries form a network throughout every tissue in the body except the

brain, cornea, and cartilage.

Endothelium: a tissue that lines the inner surface of a structure such as a blood

vessel.

Squamous epithelium: one or more layers of thin, flat cells forming the lining of

some hollow structures, e.g. blood vessels and alveoli.

Smooth muscle: a type of involuntary muscle that can contract steadily over long

periods of time.
 Elastic arteries

 They are relatively large arteries, which have a lot of elastic tissue and little

muscle tissue in their walls.

 The elasticity of these artery walls is important in allowing them to stretch,

which reduces the likelihood that they will burst.

 The artery walls stretch as the high-pressure blood surges into them and then

recoil inwards as the pressure drops.

 Muscular arteries

 Arteries that take blood from an elastic artery and deliver it close to its final

destination have more smooth muscle in their walls which allows them to

constrict and dilate.

Vasoconstriction: the narrowing of a muscular artery or arteriole,

caused by the contraction of the smooth muscle in its walls in response to

nerve impulses from the brain.

Vasodilation: the widening of a muscular artery or arteriole, caused by

the relaxation of the smooth muscle in its walls in response to nerve

impulses from the brain.

 Heart structure

 The human heart has a mass of around 300g and is roughly the size of a closed fist.

Cardiac muscle: The muscle of the heart.

Coronary arteries: arteries that branch from the aorta and spread over the walls of the

heart, supplying the cardiac muscle with nutrients and oxygen.

 Heart structure
 The heart is a hollow, muscular organ located in the chest cavity.
 It is protected in the chest cavity by the pericardium, a tough and fibrous sac.
 The heart is divided into four chambers. The two top chambers are atria and the
bottom two chambers are ventricles.
 The left and right sides of the heart are separated by a wall of muscular tissue,
called the septum which is very important for ensuring blood doesn’t mix
between the left and right sides of the heart.
 The portion of the septum that separates the left and right atria is called the
interatrial septum, while the portion of the septum that separates the left and
right ventricles is called the interventricular septum.
 Valves

Valves prevent the backward flow of blood. There are two types of valves.

1. Atrioventricular valves: The valves between the atria and the ventricles. They

allow blood to flow from the atria into the ventricles but prevent it from going in the

opposite direction.

 Tricuspid valve: located between the right atrium and the right ventricle.

 Mitral valve (Bicuspid): located between the left atrium and the left ventricle.
Semilunar valves: The valves in the entrances to the aorta and the

pulmonary artery. These valves allow blood to flow from the ventricles into

the arteries, but stop it going the other way.

 Pulmonary valve: located between the right ventricle and the

pulmonary artery.

 Aortic valve: located between the left ventricle and the aorta.
 Why valves are important?

 Valves in the heart open when the pressure of blood behind them is greater

than the pressure in front of them and close when the pressure of blood in

front of them is greater than the pressure behind them.

 Valves are important for keeping blood flowing forward in the right direction

and stopping it from flowing backward. They are also important for

maintaining the correct pressure in the chambers of the heart.

 The Walls of the Heart

 The muscular walls of the atria are thinner than those of the ventricles.

 When the atria contract, the thin muscular walls do not generate much pressure, but

enough to force blood down into the ventricles, through the atrioventricular valves.

 In contrast, the walls of the ventricles are thicker and more muscular.

 Following the contraction of the atria, the ventricles contract and squeeze blood

inwards, increasing its pressure and pushing it out of the heart through the right and

left semilunar valves.

 Left & right ventricle
 The muscle of the left ventricle is significantly thicker than the right ventricle.
 This is because the blood leaving the right ventricle travels less distance than
blood leaving the left ventricle.
 The blood pumped out from the right ventricle travels to the lungs, whereas blood
leaving the left ventricle has to travel to the rest of the body to deliver oxygen for
respiration.
 To reach the rest of the body, the blood leaving the left ventricle must be under high
pressure.
 This is generated by the contraction of the muscular walls of the left ventricle.
 The right ventricle generates less pressure from the contraction of its thinner walls, as
blood only has to reach the lungs.
 The cardiac cycle

 The sequence of events that takes place during one heartbeat. Our heart beats

around 70 times a minute.

Diastole: is when the heart muscle relaxes.

Systole: is when the heart muscle contracts.

 Volume and pressure changes

 Contraction of the heart muscle causes a decrease in volume in the

corresponding chamber of the heart, which then increases again when the muscle

relaxes.

 Volume changes lead to corresponding pressure changes.

1. When volume decreases, pressure increases.

2. When volume increases, pressure decreases.

 Atrial systole

 The stage of the cardiac cycle is when the atria are filled with blood, and muscles in

the walls of the atria contract.

 When the walls of the atria contract, atrial volume decreases and pressure increases.

 The pressure in the atria rises above that in the ventricles, forcing the

atrioventricular (AV) valves open.

 Then, blood is forced into the ventricles.

 Ventricular systole

 The stage of the cardiac cycle is when the ventricles are filled with blood, and the muscles

in the walls of the ventricles contract.

 When the walls of the ventricles contract, ventricular volume decreases and pressure

increases.

 The pressure in the ventricles rises above that in the atria, forcing the AV valves to close,

and preventing backflow.

 The pressure in the ventricles rises above that in the aorta and pulmonary artery.

 This forces the semilunar(SL) valves to open so blood is forced into the arteries and out of

the heart.
 Diastole/ cardiac diastole

 The ventricles and atria are both relaxed.

 The pressure in the ventricles drops below that in the aorta and pulmonary artery,

forcing the SL valves to close, and preventing backflow.

 The atria continue to fill with blood via the vena cava and pulmonary vein.

 Pressure in the atria rises above that in the ventricles, forcing the AV valves open.

 Blood flows passively into the ventricles without the need of atrial systole.

 The cycle then begins again with atrial systole.

 Control of heartbeat
Myogenic: a word used to describe muscle tissue that controls heartbeat without
any external stimulus.
Sinoatrial node (SAN) or pacemaker: a patch of cardiac muscle in the right atrium
of the heart that contracts and relaxes in a rhythm, sets the pattern for the rest of the
heart muscle.
Atrioventricular node (AVN): a patch of tissue in the septum of the heart that
transmits the wave of excitation from the walls of the atria and transmits it to the
Purkyne tissue.
Purkyne tissue: a network of Purkyne fibers that carry the cardiac impulse from the
AVN to the ventricles of the heart and cause them to contract.
SAN Atrium AVN Purkyne tissue Ventricle
 Tissue fluid
 Blood comprises about 55% blood plasma and about 45% different types of
blood cells.
 Over 90% (95%) of blood plasma is water, while less than 10% consists of
dissolved substances, mostly proteins.
 Over 99% of the solid particles in blood are red blood cells (erythrocytes).
 The rest are pale or colorless white blood cells (leukocytes) and platelets
(thrombocytes).
Plasma: a pale yellow liquid blood component, in which the blood cells

float. It carries a very large range of different substances in solution.

Plasma proteins: a range of several different proteins dissolved in the

blood plasma.
 Tissue fluid

 The almost colorless fluid that fills the spaces between body cells.

 It forms from the fluid (plasma) that leaks from blood capillaries.

 Tissue fluid is almost identical in composition to blood plasma.

 However, it contains far fewer protein molecules than blood plasma, because

these are too large to escape easily through the capillary endothelium.

 Red blood cells are much too large to pass through, so tissue fluid does not

contain these, but some white blood cells can squeeze through and move

around freely in tissue fluid.

The volume of fluid that leaves the capillary to form tissue fluid is the

result of two opposing forces.

1. Hydrostatic pressure/ Water potential

2. Solute concentration

Oedema: is a build-up of fluid in the body

 Red blood cells (Erythrocytes)

 The red colour of red blood cells is caused by the pigment haemoglobin, a

globular protein.

 The main function of haemoglobin is to transport oxygen.

 Red blood cells do not live very long. Old ones are broken down in the liver,

and new ones are constantly made in the bone marrow.

 They do not have nucleus.

Structural features of a red blood cell

 Red blood cells are shaped like a biconcave disc.

 Red blood cells are very small and have a size of about 7 μm.

 This small size means that no haemoglobin molecule within the cell is very far

from the cell surface membrane, and the haemoglobin molecules can therefore

quickly exchange oxygen with the fluid outside the cell.

 Because of their size, they can easily squeeze through blood capillaries and

bring oxygen as close as possible to cells that require it.

 Some capillaries are even narrower than the diameter of a red blood cell but

they can still pass through these vessels by squashing. This is possible

because the cells have a specialized cytoskeleton which is made up of a mesh-

like network of protein fibres.

 Red blood cells have no nucleus, no mitochondria, and no endoplasmic

reticulum. The lack of these organelles means that there is more room for

haemoglobin, so maximising the amount of oxygen that can be carried by each

red blood cell.

 White blood cells (Leukocytes)

 White blood cells, like red blood cells, are made in the bone marrow.

 They can be divided into two main groups:

1. phagocytes and

2. lymphocytes.
 Phagocytes
 Phagocytes are cells that protect the body by ingesting harmful foreign particles,

bacteria, and dead or dying cells.

 Phagocytes are produced throughout life in the bone marrow. They are stored

there before being distributed around the body in the blood.

 They are scavengers, removing any dead cells as well as invasive microorganisms.

 There are two types of phagocytes:

1. Neutrophils or

2. Monocytes/macrophages
 Neutrophils
 About 60-70% of the white blood cells in the blood are neutrophils.

 It can be recognized by its lobed nucleus and granular cytoplasm.

 They travel throughout the body, often leaving the blood by squeezing through the

walls of capillaries to move through the tissues engulfing any pathogens that they find.

 During an infection, neutrophils are released in large numbers from their stores, but

they are short-lived cells (5.4 days).

 Monocytes/macrophages
 They are made in the bone marrow and circulate in the blood as monocytes.

 When there is any attack from bacteria or viruses, they eventually leave the blood.

 When they leave the blood they become macrophages.

 Monocytes and macrophages can live for several months.

 They play a crucial role in initiating immune responses, since they do not destroy

pathogens completely, but cut them up to display antigens that can be

recognized by lymphocytes.
 Lymphocytes
 Lymphocytes are smaller than phagocytes.
 They have a large nucleus that fills most of the cell.
 There are two types of lymphocytes, which are produced in the bone marrow.
1. B-lymphocytes and
2. T-lymphocytes
Structural features of a WBC

• White blood cells all have a nucleus, although the shape of this varies in

different types of white cells.

• Most white blood cells are larger than red blood cells, although one

type, lymphocytes, may be slightly smaller.

• White blood cells are either spherical or irregular in shape, not a

biconcave disc.
 Haemoglobin
 Oxygen is transported around the body inside red blood cells in combination with the
protein haemoglobin.
 Each haemoglobin molecule is made up of four polypeptides, each containing one
haem group. Each haem group can combine with one oxygen molecule.
 Overall, then, each haemoglobin molecule can combine with four oxygen molecules
(eight oxygen atoms).
 The haemoglobin dissociation curve
 Partial pressure: is the pressure exerted by a single gas in a mixture of gases
which helps to measure specific concentration of a gas.
 Saturation: a sample of haemoglobin that has combined with a maximum
amount of oxygen is said to be saturated.
 Percentage saturation: the degree to which the haemoglobin in the blood is
combined with oxygen, calculated as a percentage of the maximum amount
with which it can combine.
 Dissociation curve: a graph showing the percentage saturation of a pigment
(such as haemoglobin) with oxygen, plotted against the partial pressure of
oxygen.
 Haemoglobin has a low affinity for oxygen at low concentrations of oxygen.

 Low partial pressure (at respiring cells) of oxygen means, a low concentration of

oxygen.

1. At low partial pressure of oxygen, haemoglobin binds less to the oxygen because of

its less affinity, so the saturation percentage is low.

2. At medium pressure (at pulmonary veins and artery) of oxygen, haemoglobin binds

more easily to oxygen because of its high affinity and saturation increases quickly.

3. At high pressure (at lungs) of oxygen, haemoglobin binds easily to oxygen because

of its high affinity and saturation increases quickly.

 The Bohr shift

 Changes in the oxygen dissociation curve as a result of carbon dioxide levels

are known as the Bohr effect or Bohr shift.

 The amount of oxygen haemoglobin carries is affected not only by the partial

pressure of oxygen but also by the partial pressure of carbon dioxide.

 When the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in the blood is high, the saturation

percentage of haemoglobin is reduced.

 Reaction of carbonic anhydrase

 Carbon dioxide is continually produced by respiring cells. It diffuses from the cells and

into the blood plasma, from where some of it diffuses into the red blood cells.

 In the cytoplasm of red blood cells, there is an enzyme, carbonic anhydrase which

converts carbon dioxide and water into carbonic acid.

 Then carbonic acid breaks down into hydrogen ions and hydrogen carbonate ions.
 Hydrogen ions cannot diffuse out from the RBC but hydrogen carbonate ions can.
 Hydrogen ions readily combine with the haemoglobin, forming haemoglobinic
acid, HHb. When haemoglobin does this, it releases the oxygen which it is carrying.
 In the Lungs, Oxygen from the alveoli binds to hemoglobin, breaking down

haemoglobinic acid and releasing hydrogen ions.

 The hydrogen ions combine with hydrogen carbonate ions to reform carbonic acid.

 Carbonic acid then breaks down into water and carbon dioxide which is exhaled.
 Why haemoglobin/Bohr shift is important? Or How haemoglobin helps to

maintain pH?

 Haemoglobin removes excess hydrogen ions from the solution. When carbon dioxide

dissolves and dissociates, a high concentration of hydrogen ions is formed. This

produces a low pH. If the hydrogen ions were left in the solution, the blood would be

very acidic. By removing the hydrogen ions from the solution, haemoglobin

helps to maintain the pH of the blood close to neutral. It is acting as a buffer.

Biological buffers are organic substances that maintain a constant pH

over a given range by neutralizing the effects of hydrogen ions.
 The chloride shift

 The chloride shift is the movement of chloride ions into red blood cells that

occurs when hydrogen carbonate ions are formed .

 The hydrogen carbonate ions that are produced inside red blood cells, diffuse

out of the cells and into the blood plasma.

 These ions have a negative charge and, to balance their movement, chloride

ions (which also have a negative charge) move from the blood plasma into

the red blood cells.

 This is called the chloride shift.

 Why chloride shift is important?

 If the chloride shift did not happen, the inside of the red blood cell would

develop an overall positive charge, because hydrogen ions (from the

dissociation of carbonic acid) would accumulate and would decrease blood pH.
 Carbon dioxide transport

 The blood transports carbon dioxide in three different ways.

1. As hydrogen carbonate ions in the blood plasma

 Hydrogencarbonate ions are produced in the Bohr shift process which we already know.

 These are formed in the cytoplasm of the red blood cell because this is where the enzyme

carbonic anhydrase is found.

 Most of the hydrogen carbonate ions then diffuse out of the red blood cell into the

blood plasma, where they are carried in solution.

 About 85% of the carbon dioxide transported by the blood is carried in this way.
2. As carbaminohaemoglobin

 Carbon dioxide that is not catalyzed by carbonic anhydrase inside RBC, combines

directly with the terminal amine groups (–NH2 ) of some of the haemoglobin

molecules. The compound formed is called carbaminohaemoglobin.

 In the lungs, Oxygen binding to hemoglobin reduces hemoglobin's affinity for

carbon dioxide, causing the release of carbon dioxide​ from carbaminohaemoglobin.

The carbon dioxide is then released into the alveoli and exhaled.

 About 10% of the carbon dioxide is carried in this way.

3. As dissolved carbon dioxide molecules in the blood plasma

 Some carbon dioxide remains as carbon dioxide molecules and simply

dissolves in the blood plasma.

 About 5% of the total is carried in this form.

What happens when carbaminohaemoglobin,

hydrogen carbonate ions reach the lungs?

 What happens when carbaminohaemoglobin, hydrogen carbonate ions reach

the lungs?

 When blood reaches the lungs, the reactions described above go into reverse.

 The carbon dioxide of carbaminohaemoglobin leaves the red blood cell.

 Hydrogen carbonate ions and hydrogen ions recombine to form carbonic acid

which is later on breakdown to produce carbon dioxide and water molecules

once more.

 This leaves the haemoglobin molecules free to combine with oxygen, ready to

begin another circuit of the body.