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The pulmonary circulation is a division of the circulatory system in all vertebrates. The circuit begins with deoxygenated blood returned from the body to the right atrium of the heart where it is pumped out from the right ventricle to the lungs .
The circulatory system is further divided into two major circuits – a pulmonary circulation, and a systemic circulation. [8] [1] [3] The pulmonary circulation is a circuit loop from the right heart taking deoxygenated blood to the lungs where it is oxygenated and returned to the left heart.
Vascular resistance is the resistance that must be overcome for blood to flow through the circulatory system.The resistance offered by the systemic circulation is known as the systemic vascular resistance or may sometimes be called by another term total peripheral resistance, while the resistance caused by the pulmonary circulation is known as the pulmonary vascular resistance.
The systemic circuit transports oxygen to the body and returns relatively de-oxygenated blood and carbon dioxide to the pulmonary circuit. [ 1 ] Blood flows through the heart in one direction, from the atria to the ventricles, and out through the pulmonary artery into the pulmonary circulation, and the aorta into the systemic circulation.
This is called the systemic circulation. A cardiac shunt is when blood follows a pattern that deviates from the systemic circulation, i.e., from the body to the right atrium, down to the right ventricle, to the lungs, from the lungs to the left atrium, down to the left ventricle and then out of the heart back to the systemic circulation.
Venous return (VR) is the flow of blood back to the heart. Under steady-state conditions, venous return must equal cardiac output (Q), when averaged over time because the cardiovascular system is essentially a closed loop. Otherwise, blood would accumulate in either the systemic or pulmonary circulations.
Ventilation–perfusion coupling is the relationship between ventilation and perfusion processes, which take place in the respiratory system and the cardiovascular system. [1] Ventilation is the movement of gas during breathing, and perfusion is the process of pulmonary blood circulation , which delivers oxygen to body tissues. [ 2 ]
Blood vessels also circulate blood throughout the circulatory system. Oxygen (bound to hemoglobin in red blood cells) is the most critical nutrient carried by the blood. In all arteries apart from the pulmonary artery, hemoglobin is highly saturated (95–100%) with oxygen.