CHAPTER 20

THE HEART

I. HEART ANATOMY

          A.Location

                    1. mediastinum of thoracic cavity

                    2. base

                              a. superior and center-right

                              b. apex

                                        1. between 5th and 6th left ribs

          B. Layers of the heart

                    1. Outer covering

                              a. pericardium

                                        1. fibroserous sac

                                        2. fibrous pericardium

                                        3. dense CT attaches to nearby structures

                                        4. parietal pericardium

                                        5. visceral pericardium or EPICARDIUM on surface

                                        6. pericardial fluid

                    2. Myocardium

                              a. cardiac muscle

                              b. also contains connective tissue for strength

                                        1. collagen

                                        2. elastin

                                        3. reinforces valves

                    3. Endocardium

                              a. lines inside chambers

                              b. endothelium

                                        1. same as lining of blood vessels

                                        2. endothelial cells on a basement membrane of connective

tissue

          C. Chambers

                    1. 2 atria (atrium - singular)

                              a. auricle - external part of atrium

                              2. 2 ventricles

                    3. right and left hearts

                    4. internal separations

                              a. interventricular septum

                              b. interatrial septum

                    5. external separations

                              a. coronary sulcus

                                        1. atria/ventricle

                              b. anterior interventricular sulcus

                                        2. left/right ventricles

                    6. pectinate muscles

                              a. muscle bundles inside atria

                    7. papillary muscles

                              a. muscles within ventricles

         

D. Great Vessels

                    1. Enter Right Atrium

                              a. Vena Cava

                                        1. Superior

                                        2. Inferior

                              b. Coronary Sinus

                                        1. blood from heart or coronary circulation

                    2. Exit Right Ventricle

                              a. Pulmonary Trunk  (Artery)

                    3. Blood enters pulmonary circulation to exchange gases

                    4. Enters Left Atrium

                              a. Pulmonary Vein

                    5. Exits Left Ventricle

                              a. Aorta

                                        1. branches to deliver blood to all tissues

 

          E. Draw the chambers and vessels of the heart

 

II. BLOOD FLOW THROUGH THE HEART: CHAMBERS, VALVES AND VESSELS

          A. Right Heart

                    1. pulmonary circuit

                              a. receives deoxygenated blood

                              b. pulmonary artery

                                        1. delivers deoxygenated blood to lungs

                              c. pulmonary vein

                                        2. delivers oxygenated blood to heart

                    2. not a pressure pump like left ventricle

                              a. wall is thinner

                              b. resistance is less in pulmonary circuit

          B. Left Heart

                    1. systemic circuit

                              a. functions to deliver blood to systemic

                                        circulation

                    2. wall thickens with work or load

                              a.  identify by a thicker myocardium

                              b.  pumps against great resistance throughout body

          C. Work together

                    1. Must pump same amount of blood at same time

 

          D. Valves

                    1. Atrioventricular

                              a. cusps - valve flaps

                              b. Chordae Tendineae

                                        1.attach cusps to papillary muscle of                                               ventricular wall

                                        2. collagen fibers

                              c. ventricle begins to contract

                                        blood in ventricle pushes valves closed

                                        chordae tendineae hold valves to prevent

                                        pushing them into atrium

                              d. AV valves prevent blood from being pushed into

                                        atria instead of out artery

                              d. between atria and ventricles

                                        1. Tricuspid - righT

                                        2. MitraL -Left (also bicuspid)

                                       

                    2. Semilunar

                              a. need valves to prevent blood from flowing

                                 back into ventricles when relaxing

                              b. want to build up pressure within closed

ventricles before releasing blood - when                                pressure is greater in ventricles that

                                 arteries it will push valves open into artery

                                 blood will enter arteries. As ventricles

                                 relax pressure drops and valves close

                              c. each has three pocketlike cusps

                              d. between VENTRICLES and ARTERIES

                                        1. aortic semilunar valve

                                                  a. left ventricle and aorta

                                        2. pulmonic semilunar valve

                                        a. right ventricle and pulmonary artery

                    3. Normal function with some improper valve closures

 

          E. Coronary Circulation

1.     Diffusion of nutrients from blood in heart chambers is not effective in

supplying the working cardiac muscle.

                    2. Capillaries need to delivery nutrients/oxygen to muscle fibers.

                    3. Heart requires a constant supply via the coronary arteries.

                              a. branch from aorta

                              b. separates to Right and Left Coronary Artery at aortic trunk and

divides into branches over external heart surface anterior and posterior

                    4. Left Coronary Artery branches

                              a. anterior interventricular artery

                                        1. runs along interventricular sulcus

2. supplies interventricular septum and anterior walls of right

and left ventricles

                              b. Circumflex Artery

1. supplies left atrium and post. left                                       ventricle

 

                    5. Right Coronary Artery branches

                              a. marginal artery

                                        1. supplies lateral right side of heart

                              b. posterior interventricular artery

                                        1. to apex

                                        2. supplies posterior ventricle

                    6. Anastomosis

                              a. junctions of vessels

                              b. provide collaterals

                                        1. alternative routes to supply same areas

 

                    7. From arteries, enters capillaries, return via veins

                              a. Cardiac  Veins

                                        1.follow coronary arteries

                              b. Coronary Sinus

                                        1. veins join and drain here

                   

                    8. Blockage of coronary arterial circulation

                              a. angina pectoris

                                        1. chest pain

                                        2. deficiency of blood to myocardium

                              b. Myocardial infarction (heart attack)

                                        1. lack of blood flow - ischemia

                                        2. damages tissue with prolonged absence

                                        of oxygen

                                        3. myocardium cannot return to functional

                                        tissue (amitotic) replaced with scar tissue                                                  4. survival depends of location of infarct

 

          F. Virtual Reality. You have chosen a trip through the circulatory system. At this time you will be entering the Inferior Vena Cava.  Write down the vessels, chambers, and valves in the order each is encountered.

 

III. HEART PHYSIOLOGY

          A. Cardiac Muscle

                    1. striated involuntary muscle

                    2. 1 or 2 centrally located nuclei

                    3. branched fibers

                              a. fibers are cells

                              b. muscle cells = myocytes

                              c. cardiac cells = cardiocytes or myocytes

                    4. fibers connected by intercalated discs

                              a. dark staining in slides

                    5. More mitochondria

                              a. relies on aerobic metabolism

                              b. metabolizes glucose, fatty acids,- whatever is available

                    6. myofibrils

                              a. typical sarcomere

                              b. thin filaments - Actin

                              c. thick filaments -Myosin

                    7. T-tubules enter at Z-lines or intercalated disc

                              a. not as developed as in skeletal muscle

          B. Contraction

                    1. Depolarization of muscle cells membrane= sarcolemma

                    2. Cell depolarizes to contract, relaxation after repolarization 

                    3. Most of heart is contractile muscle fibers

                              a. Action potential must be generated

                                        1. Sodium rushes into cell - membrane is

                                        more permeable to sodium (Na enters)

                                        2. Membrane potential becomes positive or upward movement on

graph

                                                  a. from resting membrane potential of

                                                  -90mV to +30mV

                                                  b. voltage gated channels open to

                                                  allow more sodium to enter cell

                                                  These open and close at a given voltage

b. Depolarization of membrane causes calcium to enter at the T-tubules through slow calcium channels. Calcium entrance prolongs action potential

c. As calcium enters it signals release of more calcium from the sarcoplasmic reticulum

                              d. Free intracellular calcium is signal

                                 for contraction

1. cross bridge formation by binding myosin heads with troponin when calcium is present

                              e. repolarization of membrane occurs when membrane becomes more

permeable to potassium (K exits)

                                 1. calcium moves back into SR and extracellular

                              f. Absolute Refractory Period

                                        1. second membrane potential cannot depolarize membrane    

                                        2. 250 ms in cardiac muscle

                                        3. 300 ms duration of contraction

                                        4. no summation or tetany

 

Graph the Membrane potential(mV) vs. Time showing the action potential. Include the time interval for contraction.                   

 

          C. Electrophysiology of the heart

                    1. Automaticity

                              a. intrinsic ability of the heart to depolarize and contract

                              b. separate from neural excitation

                                        1. sympathetic innervation to speed up

                                                  a. from medulla - cardioacceleratory

                                                  center via spinal nerves T1-T5

                                        2. parasympathetic innervation to slow

                                                  a. from medulla - cardioinhibitory                                                                                            center via the Vagus nerve (X)

                              c. cardiocytes in tissue culture will beat independently until contact causes

them to beat together

                              d. mediated by the Cardiac Conduction System

                                        or Nodal System

                              e. action potential must follow a designated

pathway so that the atria contract while ventricles are relaxed and before ventricles contract

                              f. Action potential initiates at the pacemaker of the heart

                                        1. the pacemaker for most people is at the

                                        sinoatrial node - SA node

                                                  a. discharge rate of 60-100 per minute

                                                  b. This is the fastest rate and sets the                                                                                     pace   for the heart beat - sinus rhythm

                                                  c. normal sinus rhythm of 60-100 beats

                                                  per minute    

                                        2. can initiate at the atrioventricular node-

                                                  AV node - rate of 40- 55 per minute

                              g. Normal activation sequence

                                        1. SA node

                                        2. atrial myocardium

                                        3. AV node

                                        4. bundle of His

                                        5. left and right bundle branches

                                        6. Purkinje network

                                        7. Ventricular myocardium           

 

                              h. correlate to the ECG - Draw in the ECG

                                                  R

                                       

                              P                   T

                                Q      S

              a  bcd   e f g

              0  100   200   300   400   500

                                                            200msec=0.2sec

                                Time (msec)

 

          Conduction Pathway of the Heart

                    a. SA node       at time:   0 msec

                    b. AV node                          66

                    c. remote atrial surface  100

                    d. bundle of His                 130

                    e. ant right ventricle    190

                    f. apex                                        220

                    g. post left ventricle    260

 

          2. Electrocardiogram

                    a. measure electrical activity from contracting of          muscle

                              1. largest signal from heart

                              2. filter out noise

                              3. gives a 1mv signal that must be amplified to

                                 record on a chart

                    b. isoelectric line

                              1. get upward and downward deflections

                            called waves

                    c. P wave

                              1. atria depolarization

                    d. QRS complex

1. produced by the upstroke of all the action potentials throughout the ventricles

                    e. S-T segment produced by plateau phase of act. pot.

                    f. T wave with repolarization of ventricles- slower

                    g. isoelectric segment after T wave = ventricular relaxation

                    h. normal time intervals for waves and segments

                       P-R SEGMENT   end of P to beginning of Q

                       P-R INTERVAL  beginning of P to beginning of Q

                       S-T SEGMENT   end of S to beginning of T

                       S-T INTERVAL  end of S to end of T

                       Q-T INTERVAL  beginning of Q to end of T

                       QRS COMPLEX   beginning of Q to end of S

                       P-WAVE        beginning of P to end of P

                       T-WAVE        beginning of T to end of T

                              Knowing the duration of each segment or interval

                              can be used to identify abnormalities in the

                              conduction pathway.

 

 

          D. Cardiac Cycle

                    Refer to handout for all events in the cardiac cycle

                    as measured in the left heart.

                    1. All events in one heartbeat

                              a. if heart rate is 75 then cardiac cycle is 0.8sec

                              (800 msec)

                    2. Blood flows due to pressure changes ALWAYS goes

                              from high to low pressure

                    3. Systole

                              a. contraction

                              b. atrial systole to force blood to ventricles

                                 1. from P-wave to S-wave

                              c. ventricular systole to force blood to arteries

                                 1. from S-wave to end of T-wave

                    4. Diastole

                              a. relaxation

                              b. atria and ventricles in diastole from end of

                                T-wave to P-wave - the long isoelectric line

                              b. atrial diastole while atria are filling

                                 1. with ventricular systole         

                              c. ventricular diastole while ventricles are filling

                                 1. with atrial systole

                    5. Phases of the cardiac cycle

                              a. atrial systole

                                        1. atria contracts and ejects blood into ventricles

                                        2. volume is small compared to amount entering

                                                  when valves open

                                        3. significant with high output of heart or

                                        failing heart ("atrial kick")

                              b. Isovolumetric contraction

                                        1. closing of AV

                                        2. volume must stay the same

                                        3. pressure inside ventricles rises

                              c. Rapid ejection

                                        1. 2/3rds of blood ejected

                                                  into aorta or pulmonary artery

                              d. Reduced ejection

                                        1. less volume,slower ejection but

                                                  more shortening of fibers needed to

                                        squeeze blood out

                              e. Isovolumetric relaxation

                                        1. pressure drops rapidly in ventricles

                                        2. all valves closed no change in volume

                                        3. ventricles elongate

                                        4. pressure must drop lower than atrial

                                                  pressure so that AV valves open

                              f. Rapid ventricular filling

                                        1. immediately after opening of AV valve

                                        2. blood from atria rushes in 2/3rds of

                                      filling occurs here

                              g. Reduced ventricular filling (diastasis)

                                        1. greatest quiescence - relaxation

                                        2. some flow from atria but slowly

                              h. back to atrial systole after the P wave

                             

 

          VALVES: WHEN ARE EACH OPENED AND CLOSED

TIME  (SEC)0       .1    .2    .3    .4    .5    .6    .7    .8

                                                              

ATRIUM    [SYSTOLE][      DIASTOLE                            ]

VENTRICLE [DIASTOLE][   SYSTOLE       ][DIASTOLE              ]

AV VALVE  [ OPEN   ][  CLOSED          ][OPEN                 ]

SEMILUNAR [CLOSED   ][   OPEN         ][  CLOSED              ]

HEART

SOUNDS      [IV]     [I ]              [II]  [III]                               

       note: atrial systole - 0.1 sec

        ventricular systole - 0.3 sec

                quiescent period - 0.4 sec

         

          E. Heart Sounds

                    1. lub-dup, pause, lub-dup

                    2. most audible sounds from valves closing

                              sounds I and II

                    3. pause - quiescent period

                    4. First heart sound (I)

                              a. AV valves close

                              b. loudest, longer

                    5. Second heart sound (II)

                              a. semilunar valves close

                              b. short snap

 

                    6. Location on chest correspond to valve

                              a. Locate in lab exercise

 

III. CARDIAC FUNCTION

          A. Cardiac Output (CO)

                    1. amount of blood pumped out by each ventricle in

                       one minute

                              a. right and left sides are in series and

                              must pump same volumes

                    2. Stroke volume (SV) is the amount pumped out of each

                       ventricle in one beat (70ml/beat)

                    3. Heart rate = number of beats in 1 min

                    4. CO= HR x Stroke volume

                              =75 beats/min x 70 ml/beat

                              = 5250 ml/min   (approx. 5 liters/min)

                    5. Total blood volume is approx. 5 liters

                    6. All of the body's blood passes through each side of

                       the heart each minute!

                    7. Cardiac reserve

                              a. can increase output on demand by

                                        1. increasing HR

                                        2. increasing SV

                                        3. or both

                                        4. athlete can increase CO to 35L/min

         

 

 

          B. Stroke Volume

                    1. Ventricles are not drained with SV of 70 ml

                        a. usually this is 60% of volume

                    2. End diastolic volume (EDV)

                              a. amount of blood during ventricle at end of

                                 its diastole

                    3. End systolic volume (ESV)

                              a. amount remaining in ventricle at end of

                                        its systole

                    4. SV= EDV (120ml)-ESV(50ml)

                              = 70ml/beat

                    5. Frank-Starling Law of the Heart

                              a. Preload of the cardiac muscle cells just before they contract determines the

stroke volume

b.preload - stretch of fibers (related to actual volume present (EDV) established by venous return)

                              c. slow heart rate or exercise

                                 increases EDV

                              d. if not explained by Starling's Law of the Heart then the heart sucks

1.     ventricle waalls rebound suddenly and creat

                                        negative pressures inside like squeezing an                                         empty container under water

                    6. Epi or Norepi

                              a. enhance contractility via calcium mobilization

                              b. contractility refers to force of contraction

                                an     increase in contractility results in a more

                           forceful contraction of the heart giving a

                           greater SV

 

          C. Heart Rate

                    1. Pacemaker control - intrinsic

                    2. autonomic control

                              a. sympathetic

                                        1. Beta-1 adrenergic receptors-

                                        Norepi increases heart rate and

                                        contractility via these receptors

                                        2. Beta-blockers decrease HR by

                                        blocking B-1 receptors and lower BP

                              b. parasympathetic

                                        1. returns HR to low levels after stress

                                        2. inhibitory effect

                                        3. cut vagus nerve get increase in

                                                  heart rate of 30 beats/min

                                                  or at about 100 beats/min as

                                                  established by the SA node

                    3. Baroreceptors

                              a. sense changes in BP

                              b. negative feedback mechanism to regulate BP

                              c. reflex control of HR

                              d. location

                                        1. carotid sinus

                                                  a.bifurcation of common carotid artery

                                        (divides into internal/external carotids)

                                             b. stretches as BP rises

                                                  c. stimulates cardioinhibitory center

                                                  d. impulses via parasym. (vagus)

                                                  e. lowers HR

                                        2. aortic arch

                                                  a. in aorta

                                                  b. response same as carotid sinus

                    4. Bainbridge Reflex

                              a. atrial stretch receptors (baroreceptors)

                              b. at vena cava and right atrium

                              c. at pulmonary vein and left atrium

                              d. as pressure in atria rises effect is to

                                        stimulate cardioaccelarotory center to

                                        increase HR and BP to prevent blood volume

                                        increase (congestion) in heart

                    5. Chemicals that influence HR

                              a. Epi and Norepi

                              b. thyroxine

                              c. calcium

                                        1. low calcium depress heart

                                                  a. calcium channel blockers

                                        act to decrease contractility and

                                        oxygen requirement of the heart

                                        and used with hypertension, angina

                                        2. hypercalcemia

                                                  a. greater contractions

                              d. sodium

                                        1. hypernatremia

                                                  a. inhibits calcium transport

                                                  and blocks contraction

                              e. potassium

                                        1. hyperkalemia

                                                  a. lowers resting membrane potential

                                                  b. may lead to heart block

                                        2. hypokalemia

                                                  a. abnormal sinus rhythms