Solution:
The cardiovascular system consists of two pumps (left and right ventricle) and two series of circuits:
Pulmonary circuit and systemic circuit.
The systemic circuit:
This circuit begins in one of the great vessels, the aorta, which branches into smaller vessels to the capillaries that finally reach the organs.
Now, the vascular components include arteries, arterioles, and capillaries:
Arteries: they are thick-walled vessels, the blood that circulates in these vessels has high pressure and they carry oxygenated blood to the body's tissues.
Arterioles: they are branches of the arteries.
Capillaries: they have larger surface areas and cross-sections and are the sites of exchange for nutrients, water, and gases.
on the other hand, the vascular components also include the venous circuit, in this circuit, the venules (smaller veins) join to form larger veins until the larger vein, the vena cava, returns blood to the heart:
Veins: thin-walled vessels where blood circulates with low pressure. These vessels contain most of the blood that flows in the cardiovascular system.
Venules: they are the component with the highest permeability in the microcirculation.
Pulmonary circuit:
In the pulmonary circuit, deoxygenated blood leaves the heart's right ventricle and passes into the pulmonary artery (pulmonary artery trunk). The pulmonary artery trunk divides into the right and left pulmonary arteries.
The right and left pulmonary arteries carry deoxygenated blood to the arterioles and capillary beds in the lungs. In this location (lungs), carbon dioxide is released and oxygen is absorbed. The oxygenated blood then passes from the capillary beds through the venules into the pulmonary veins. The pulmonary veins carry it to the left atrium of the heart. The pulmonary arteries are the only arteries that carry deoxygenated blood, and the pulmonary veins are the only veins that carry oxygenated blood.
The heart:
The heart is located between the lungs in the center of the chest (inferior mediastinum), behind, and slightly to the left of the breastbone.
The heart is wrapped in a membrane composed of two layers, this membrane is called the pericardium.
The outer layer of the pericardium surrounds the source of the major blood vessels of the heart and is attached to the spine and diaphragm by ligaments.
The inner layer of the pericardium is attached to the heart muscle (myocardium). A layer of fluid separates the two layers of the membrane, allowing the heart to move as it beats while remaining attached to the body.
The heart has four chambers.
The upper chambers are called atriums and there are two of them: left atrium and right atrium.
On the other hand, the lower chambers are also two and are called left ventricle" and "right ventricle.
A muscular wall called the septum separates the left and right atria and the left and right ventricles.
The left ventricle is the largest and strongest chamber in the heart. In fact, the walls of the left ventricle are strong enough to push blood through the aortic valve to the rest of the body.
Valves are those that control the flow of blood in the heart. These valves are 4.
The tricuspid valve controls blood flow between the right atrium and the right ventricle.
The pulmonary valve controls blood flow from the right ventricle to the pulmonary arteries. Note that the pulmonary arteries carry blood to the lungs to oxygenate this blood.
The mitral valve allows oxygenated blood from the lungs to pass from the left atrium to the left ventricle.
The aortic valve allows oxygen to pass from the left ventricle to the aorta, the largest artery in the body, which carries blood to the rest of the body.
On the other hand, the heart works through a special network of the myocardium, which stimulates the heart to contract. This electrical signal originates from the sinoatrial (SA) node located in the upper part of the right atrium.
Electrical impulses from the sinoatrial node travel through the muscle fibers of the atria and ventricles, stimulating their contraction.