O Cardiovascular system is composed of the following structures:
- Heart: organ rich in muscles that move involuntarily, that is, without depending on our will. It is between the lung right and left, below the ribs.
Heart: component of the cardiovascular system
- Blood vessels: they are tube-shaped, flexible structures: the arteries, veins and capillaries.
Circulation is the name given to the movement of blood through blood vessels, driven by the beats of the heart. When the heart muscles relax, we say that diastole has occurred; and when your muscles contract, systole.
At blood circulation, blood rich in carbon dioxide passes from the heart to the lungs, through the pulmonary arteries. There, it oxygenates, and then returns to the heart within the pulmonary veins.
One of the tasks of the cardiovascular system
Afterwards, this already oxygenated blood goes from the heart to the various parts of the body. It takes oxygen to the cells, and removes carbon dioxide from them, returning to the heart. After that moment, it completes the cycle, returning again to the lungs.
One of the tasks of the cardiovascular system
That blood oxygen goes to other regions of the body through the arteries. They are connected to capillaries, which are very thin vessels, responsible for carrying oxygen and nutrients to the cells, collecting from them carbon dioxide and toxic substances.
Capillaries are also connected to veins. Thus, blood rich in carbon dioxide and toxic substances pass from them to the veins, going to the heart – and then being directed to the lungs.
Thus, we can understand that:
- The arteries carry blood from the heart to other regions of the body;
- The veins carry the blood back to the heart;
- Capillaries link veins to arteries and transport nutrients and oxygen to cells, removing carbon dioxide and toxic substances from there.
We call it small circulation, or pulmonary circulation, when blood, rich in carbon dioxide, passes from the heart to the lungs, oxygenates, and then returns to the heart.
The great circulation, or systemic circulation, characterizes the path of blood, already oxygenated, from the heart to the different parts of the body, later returning to the heart.
Large and small blood circulation: cardiovascular system task
Take the opportunity to check out our video lesson on the subject:
