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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).
Coronary arteries supply oxygenated blood to the heart muscle. Cardiac veins then drain away the blood after it has been deoxygenated. Because the rest of the body, and most especially the brain , needs a steady supply of oxygenated blood that is free of all but the slightest interruptions, the heart is required to function continuously.
Blood vessels transport blood cells, nutrients, and oxygen to most of the tissues of a body. They also take waste and carbon dioxide away from the tissues. [2] Some tissues such as cartilage, epithelium, and the lens and cornea of the eye are not supplied with blood vessels and are termed avascular.
Veins (/ v eɪ n /) are blood vessels in the circulatory system of humans and most other animals that carry blood towards the heart. Most veins carry deoxygenated blood from the tissues back to the heart; exceptions are those of the pulmonary and fetal circulations which carry oxygenated blood to the heart. In the systemic circulation, arteries ...
The coronary arteries are the arterial blood vessels of coronary circulation, which transport oxygenated blood to the heart muscle. The heart requires a continuous supply of oxygen to function and survive, much like any other tissue or organ of the body. [1] The coronary arteries wrap around the entire heart.
Oxygenated blood then returns to the left atrium, passes through the left ventricle and is pumped out through the aorta into systemic circulation, traveling through arteries, arterioles, and capillaries—where nutrients and other substances are exchanged between blood vessels and cells, losing oxygen and gaining carbon dioxide—before being ...
The cardiomyocytes make up the bulk (99%) of cells in the atria and ventricles. These contractile cells respond to impulses of action potential from the pacemaker cells and are responsible for the contractions that pump blood through the body. The pacemaker cells make up just (1% of cells) and form the conduction system of the heart.
It pumps blood from the body — called the systemic circulation — through the lungs — called the pulmonary circulation — and then back out to the body. This means that the heart is connected to and affects the entirety of the body. Simplified, the heart is a circuit of the circulation. [citation needed] While plenty is known about the ...