Blog
Save
Email
Print
ShareThe heart is a hollow, muscular organ in vertebrates that pumps blood through the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions, or a similar structure in annelids, mollusks, and arthropods.
See also:
The heart is composed of cardiac muscle, an involuntary muscle tissue which is found only within this organ.
The function of the right side of the heart is to collect deoxygenated blood, in the right atrium, from the body and pump it, via the right ventricle, into the lungs (pulmonary circulation) so that carbon dioxide can be dropped off and oxygen picked up (gas exchange).
This happens through a passive process called diffusion.
The left side collects oxygenated blood from the lungs into the left atrium.
From the left atrium the blood moves to the left ventricle which pumps it out to the body.
On both sides, the lower ventricles are thicker and stronger than the upper atria.
The muscle wall surrounding the left ventricle is thicker than the wall surrounding the right ventricle due to the higher force needed to pump the blood through the systemic circulation.
For more information about the topic Heart, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles:
Heart rate — Heart rate is a term used to describe the frequency of the cardiac cycle. It is considered one of the four vital signs. Usually it is calculated as ... > read more
Echocardiography — The echocardiogram is an ultrasound of the heart. Using standard ultrasound techniques, two-dimensional slices of the heart can be imaged. The latest ... > read more
Artificial heart — An artificial heart is a prosthetic device that is implanted into the body to replace the original biological heart. It is distinct from a cardiac ... > read more
Ischaemic heart disease — Ischaemic (or ischemic) heart disease is a disease characterized by reduced blood supply to the heart. It is the most common cause of death in most ... > read more
Heart valve — In anatomy, the heart valves are valves in the heart that maintain the unidirectional flow of blood by opening and closing depending on the ... > read more
Mitral valve — The mitral valve, also known as the bicuspid valve, is a valve in the heart that lies between the left atrium (LA) and the left ventricle ... > read more
Blood pressure — Blood pressure is the pressure exerted by the blood on the walls of the blood vessels. Unless indicated otherwise, blood pressure is understood to ... > read more
Human physiology — Human physiology is the science of the mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions of normal humans or human tissues or organs. The principal ... > read moreEditor's Note: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
Recommend this page on Facebook, Twitter,
and Google +1:
Other bookmarking and sharing tools:
more 