Pulmonary circulation or less

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Sherman Hoover
Pulmonary circulation or less
Pulmonary circulation passes blood between the heart and lungs

What is pulmonary circulation or minor circulation?

The pulmonary circulation, also known as minor circulation, It is the part of the circulatory system that forms the circuit through which blood moves between our heart and lungs. Its function is to move oxygen-depleted blood from the heart to the lungs and oxygen-depleted blood from the lungs to the heart.

The human body, like that of many other animals, is made up of many different parts and organs. Some of these organs work together to carry out very special common functions, forming what we know as organ systems.

Among all body systems, the circulatory system It is the one that is responsible for distributing the blood throughout our body, delivering oxygen (O2) and nutrients to each of our cells, and receiving waste from them, such as another gas called carbon dioxide (CO₂), which is a product of cellular metabolism that must be eliminated.

The circulatory system is capable of moving blood through our body thanks to the parts that make it up: the heart, arteries, veins and blood capillaries..

While the heart is the organ that works all the time to propel the blood (it is a muscle pump), the arteries, veins and capillaries represent the internal blood vessel system through which this blood is transported to all the tissues of the body and back to the heart.

Divisions of the circulatory system

We can say that the blood vessels of our body and, therefore, our circulatory system, is divided into two very important sections:

  • Pulmonary circulation or less: it is responsible for the circulation of blood between the heart and lungs.
  • Systemic circulation or greater: it is responsible for the circulation of blood between the heart and the rest of the body. It has a longer route than the first.

The main function of pulmonary circulation is to transport blood rich in carbon dioxide (CO₂) and devoid of oxygen (O2) -because it comes from the organs, to whose cells it was delivered- from the heart to the lungs, where it delivers the dioxide. carbon and recharges with oxygen, going back to the heart.

Parts and path of the pulmonary circulation

Pulmonary circulation or minor circulation is the part of our circulatory system that has to do with the movement of blood between our heart and our lungs..

Consequently, the two main “parts” of this system are the heart and the lungs, from which we understand that it is through this circuit that our circulatory and respiratory systems are closely related..

The heart

Illustration of a human heart

For its part, the heart is the main organ of the entire circulatory system and it is a muscular organ capable of rhythmically contracting to propel blood through the arteries, veins and capillaries of the body, that is, our vessels. sanguine.

It is about the size of the fist of an adult human being; its shape is more or less conical and is located on the chest, just between the lungs, a little to the left.

It is made up of four cameras connected to each other, two on the left side and two on the right side, two upper and two lower.

The upper chambers are known as atria and the lower ones are ventricles; the latter function as true pumps, as they propel blood from the heart to the rest of the body.

The atria and ventricles are separated from each other by valves, as well as valves between the ventricles and the blood vessels that connect to them..

The right part of our heart receives blood from all organs (devoid of oxygen) and pumps it to the lungs, meanwhile the left part of our heart receives blood from the lungs (rich in oxygen) and propels it to the others bodily organs.

Lungs

Illustration of human lungs

The lungs are the organs that, from our chest, allow us to breathe. We have two, one on the right side and one on the left side - with the heart in the middle - and both have the appearance of sacs that regularly fill with oxygenated air when we inhale and then expel carbon dioxide when we exhale, even when we do not give ourselves. account.

They are formed by structures known as alveoli, which are sacs filled with blood capillaries located at the end of other structures known as bronchioles; These are ramifications of the bronchi, corresponding to the right and left branches of the windpipe.

The trachea is a flexible tube that conducts air from the larynx, very close to the mouth, to the lungs and is shaped like a "Y".

Route of the pulmonary circuit and blood vessels involved

The minor or pulmonary circulation begins its journey in the right atrium of the heart, which receives through the vena cava all blood without oxygen - but with carbon dioxide - that comes from the other body systems and organs.

From the right atrium the blood deoxygenated it is pumped into the right ventricle. The right ventricle pushes this same blood to the pulmonary arteries right and left (collectively known as pulmonary trunk) and through these it reaches the lungs, where the carbon dioxide that it brings is removed and oxygen is “loaded” into the pulmonary capillaries.

From the lungs, oxygenated blood is pickup by pulmonary veins, that lead it to the left atrium of the heart. This blood passes to the left ventricle and from there to the Aorta is a artery, not a vein; at this point the systemic circuit or greater circulation begins.

Systemic circulation or greater

This is the part of the circulatory system that sends blood to all the tissues of the body: towards the head, towards the arms and hands, towards the legs and feet, towards the stomach and intestines, and towards the rest of the organs visceral.

In this circuit, the blood that reaches the left atrium from the lungs moves to the left ventricle, from where it is pushed into the vein. aorta to later be distributed throughout all arteries and capillaries, oxygenating our organs and tissues.

After deliver all oxygen and nutrients and load With carbon dioxide and other waste materials, systemic blood is collected by the different veins of our body, returning to the heart through the vena cava, connected to the right atrium, where pulmonary circulation begins again.

References

  1. Berne, R., & Levy, M. (1990). Physiology. Mosby; International Ed.
  2. Gartner, L., & Hiatt, J. (2002). Text Atlas of Histology (2nd ed.). México D.F .: McGraw-Hill Interamericana Editores.
  3. Putz, R., & Pabst, R. (2006). Sobotta-Atlas of Human Anatomy: Head, Neck, Upper Limb, Thorax, Abdomen, Pelvis, Lower Limb; Two-volume set.
  4. Weinhaus, A. J., & Roberts, K. P. (2005). Anatomy of the human heart. In Handbook of Cardiac Anatomy, Physiology, and Devices (2nd ed., Pp. 59-85). Humana Press Inc.
  5. West, J. B. (1991). Physiological basis of medical practice. Williams & Wilkins.

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