Heart Dissection Video

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B20g3GH8iX_Gdm9nRE5PbkpGSGc/view?usp=sharing

Sheep Heart Disection Lab Questions

1. What's the purpose of the pericardium?

The pericardium surrounds and protects the heart. It also acts as an anchor keeping the heart in the chest cavity. The serous membranes of the pericardium act as lubricant for the heart as well.

2. Observe the blood vessels connecting to the hart. How do arteries differ from veins in their structure?

Arteries have thicker walls in general. Although they cannot be seen, veins contain valves that regulate the flow of blood throughout the vein while arteries do not.

3. What function do you think the auricle serves?

The auricle expands the blood volume capacity of the atria.

4. What differences do you observe between the atria and ventricles?

The atria are much smaller and thinner. The ventricles contain much more muscle and have thicker walls. The atria are located above the ventricles.

5. Use words or pictures to describe each

A. coronary sinus

This is a blood vessel that goes across the back of the heart and connects to the right atrium.

B. inferior vena cava

The inferior vena cava cannot be seen during the heart dissection as it appears to be have cut off when we relieved the heart.

C. tricuspid valve

Contains three flaps that open and close. The valve cusps are connected to the chordate tendinae which connect to the papillary muscles.

6. Draw a picture of the tricuspid valve including the chordate tendinae and the papillary muscles.

7. Why is the anchoring of the valves by the chordate tendinae and the papillary muscle important to heart function?

The anchoring is important so that the valve can function efficiently. The anchoring prevents the valve from flapping around in the blood stream and makes sure the valve stays in place. This will ultimately help make sure the blood does not back flow. 

8.

9. What is the function of the semi-lunar valves?

The semi-lunar valves include the aortic and pulmonary semi-lunar valves. The aortic semi-lunar valves regulate the blood flow into the aorta while the pulmonary semi-lunar valve regulates blood flow into the pulmonary trunk. 

10. valvular heart disease is when one or more heart valves does not work properly. Improperly functioning heart valves can lead to regurgitation, which is the backflow of blood through a leaky valve. Ultimately this can lead to congestive heart failure, a condition that can be life threatening.

A. If the valve disease occurs on the right side of the heart, it results in swelling in the feet and ankles. Why might this happen? 

Because the blood is supposed to leave the feet and ankles and go through the right side of the heart, but with this disease, there is a backflow of blood because the valves are improperly functioning

B. If the valve disease occurs on the left side of the heat what complications would you expect to see? 

You would see that you aren’t getting a sufficient enough of blood to the muscles and body

11. 

A. entrance to the right and left coronary arteries: they connect to the aorta and they revolve around the back of the heart

B. left aortic semi-lunar valve: looks like a flap

C. chordae tendinae of the bicuspid valve: looks like fibrous and tendon-like chords that connect the valve to the papillary muscle

D. papillary muscle of the bicuspid valve: connects to ventricle, little lump of muscle

bicuspid valve: contains two flaps

12. Describe how the left and right sides of the heart differ from each other.

The left side of the heart tends to contain thicker wall as it is necessarily for this side of the wall to have more cardiac muscle tissue in order to pump blood throughout the body. The right side of the heart does not need to contain much cardiac muscle tissue as it only needs to pump blood to the lungs 

13. Draw and label all the structures visible in the interior of the cross section. 

Unit 3 reflection

This unit was all about the cardiovascular system of the human body. We went into the the function and structure of the cardiovascular systems as well as the different parts it is composed of such as the heart, the blood vessels, and blood. The cardiovascular system provides oxygen and transport nutrients and waste throughout all of the cells in the human body. The pump is the heart, which contracts and relaxes its chambers to pump blood throughout the different blood vessels in the human body. The blood then goes to the lungs where it gains oxygen and this oxygen is then carried by the blood and pumped to all of the cells of the human body. Cardiovascular health relates primarily to the health of the heart and blood vessels. This includes having a healthy blood pressure that is around 120/80, eating healthily and exercising regularly. Normally heart disease, is caused by plaque build up in the arteries, a condition called atherosclerosis. This is primarily as a result of a poor diet with high LDL cholesterol and low HDL cholesterol. As a result the arteries can even swell up and an aneurysm can occur, or get blocked by the plaque and cause a heart attack. The primary thing to do to prevent this from happening is eating healthily and exercising.

This unit for me was the most interesting out of all of the units we have done so far. I am fascinated by the structure and function of the heart and how critical the organ is to our survival. The cardiovascular system is incredibly complex and learning about all of the different structures it contains and functions it has was interesting. This unit I did feel I studied much more frequently and did not cram as much as I did for the last unit. I studied incredibly hard for the temp checks that we had and that allowed me to remember most of the information for the test. All I needed to do was review and test myself in order to prepare for the test. One setback I did encounter was the notebook check. I realized my notebook became more and more disorganized and as a result I had forgotten to do one relate and review causing me to lose 10 points. I will work on my organization of the notebook much more on the next unit making sure to keep it up to date.

For the remainder of the semester my main goal is to learn as much as I can. I do not care as much about how well I do on the tests as I do to being able to understand the information and apply it to my own life. I realize that in the future, I will probably be studying the human body as a bio-medical engineer. This is a potential career path I have chosen as the human body fascinates me. I hope to start studying more for my own learning and knowledge, reading more of the textbook and learning more about the different organ systems than just taught in class.





structure of the human heart





heart and the blood vessels of the body






sphygomamometer

a device used to measure blood pressure