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The heart is a muscular organ found in humans and other animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels. [1] Heart and blood vessels together make the circulatory system. [2] The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the tissue, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide to the lungs. [3]
Cardiac physiology or heart function is the study of healthy, unimpaired function of the heart: involving blood flow; myocardium structure; the electrical conduction system of the heart; the cardiac cycle and cardiac output and how these interact and depend on one another.
Humans have a four-chambered heart consisting of the right and left atrium, and the right and left ventricle. The atria are the two upper chambers which pump blood to the two lower ventricles. The right atrium and ventricle are often referred to together as the right heart, and the left atrium and ventricle as the left heart.
In vertebrates, the circulatory system is a system of organs that includes the heart, blood vessels, and blood which is circulated throughout the body. [1] [2] It includes the cardiovascular system, or vascular system, that consists of the heart and blood vessels (from Greek kardia meaning heart, and Latin vascula meaning vessels).
Severe ischemia can cause the heart muscle to die from hypoxia, such as during a myocardial infarction. Chronic moderate ischemia causes contraction of the heart to weaken, known as myocardial hibernation. [citation needed] In addition to metabolism, the coronary circulation possesses unique pharmacologic characteristics.
A slow heart rate of 60 or less beats per minute is defined as bradycardia. A fast heart rate of more than 100 beats per minute is defined as tachycardia. An arrhythmia is defined as one that is not physiological such as the lowered heart rate that a trained athlete may naturally have developed; the resting heart rates may be less than 60 bpm.
This rate can be altered, however, by nerves that work to either increase heart rate (sympathetic nerves) or decrease it (parasympathetic nerves), as the body's oxygen demands change. Ultimately, muscle contraction revolves around a charged atom (ion) , calcium (Ca 2+ ) , [ 3 ] which is responsible for converting the electrical energy of the ...
The section shows: 1) the opened ventricles contracting once per heartbeat—that is, once per each cardiac cycle; 2) the (partly obscured) mitral valve of the left heart; 3) the tricuspid and pulmonary valves of the right heart—note these paired valves open and close oppositely. + (The aortic valve of the left heart is located below the ...