Blood Loss and Cardiac Performance Effects

This assignment examines the impact of blood loss on cardiac function. It analyzes how different levels of blood loss (e.g., 50% reduction) affect blood pressure, pulse rate, arterial resistance, and overall cardiac output. The discussion delves into compensatory mechanisms triggered by baroreceptors in response to low blood pressure. Furthermore, it considers the potential consequences of significant blood loss on an individual's health, including heart failure and death.

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Introduction
Baroreceptors are receptors found on the walls of the blood vessels and communicates to the
brain if the blood pressure is very high/low such that they can change the blood flow. On the
other hand, the chemoreceptors are situated in different areas. The carotid bodies in the carotid
arteries that start from the neck up to the brain and the aortic bodies in the aortic arc near the
heart. When having a problem characterized by hypotension and high pulse rate can be of great
concern prompting you to visit a doctor the soonest time possible. Pulse rate is the number of
heart beats per minute while blood pressure is the pressure of the blood that circulates on the
blood vessel walls (Cheng et al. 2014). There are pathological conditions and real-life activities
that cause a change in the normal blood pressure and pulse rate. The rationale of this paper is to
write a report about physiology and metabolism. A table of normal value below will be used for
reference throughout the report.
Systolic pressure 121.0 mmHg
Diastolic pressure 75.1 mmHg
Right atrial pressure 1.7 mmHg
Mean capillary
pressure 12.7 mmHg
Mean rate 69.7 /min
Stroke volume 71.5 ml
Cardiac output 5.0 l/min
Total arterial
resistance 16.0 mmHg.l/min
Cardial contractility 1.3 l/min/mmHg
Exercise 1
a) When the pulse rate, the blood pressure and the Arterial Resistance (AR) is raised.

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From the Mac Man computer simulation recording sheet, a rise in the resistance pressure would
result in hypertension or HBP (due to the stage I hypertension of the diastolic pressure and
hypertension of the systolic pressure) and low heart rate. A prolonged low heart rate can lead to a
frequent cardiac arrest, fainting even death because of the failure of the heart tissues to supply
adequate blood to the rest of the body (Davies 2013). Scientifically, what happens is that the
walls of the heart, as well as the blood vessel, broadens as a result of the high pressure thus leads
to hardening of the arteries of the heart. Such conditions can cause stroke, organ failure, or heart
attack.
b) Factors that increase blood pressure
There is a host of aspects that may lead to a high blood pressure such as being obese or having a
body mass index of 30kg/m or more. When the body weight of a person increases, the blood
pressure also increases (Gilmore et al. 2014). Other factors include sodium or salt sensitivity
(this is where some individuals have high sensitivity to sodium chloride which makes their blood
pressure to rise if they use it). Drinking too much of alcohol, birth control pills especially for the
women, lack of exercise or exercise or physical inactivity (where some people live a sedentary
life that can lead to being obese and high blood pressure). Scientifically, medications such as diet
pills, and stimulants. Have been known to raise high blood pressure when used. According to
Jeon and Osborne (2012), there are non-changing factors that can lead to high blood pressure.
They include age where aged people are likely to have HBP due to hardening of the arteries, race
where African Americans develop hypertension more often compared to Caucasians, heredity or

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family history which runs through the family history. Socioeconomic status; here HBP is
common among the less educated plus lower economic groups.
Exercise 2
Real situations where changes for the three scenarios would likely to happen
1. Change the intrathroracic pressure to 0mmHg
During inspiration; the intra-alveolar reduces from zero to -1 via the action of the diaphragm as
well as the external intercostal muscles. Air then flows inside up to when the pressure returns to
zero
2. Increasing blood volume of to 6 liters
Training or exercises such as jogging, cycling, and swimming increase the blood volume over
time. Some factors determine increased blood volume from a workout. For instance,
cardiovascular workouts accelerate the release of ADH as well as aldosterone. These hormones
cause the kidney to reabsorb or retain more water (Pedersen et al. 2015). Evidently, increased
water retention within the kidneys causes an increase in the blood plasma levels thus producing a
greater volume of blood overall. Notably, the plasma volume starts to increase within a 2-3 week
of training.
3. Decreasing blood volume to 3 liters
During postpartum hemorrhage (PPH).
After giving birth, the womb is supposed to contract to seal off the blood vessels where it was
attached. However, the most common reason for heavy bleeding that can lead to loss of even up

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to three liters of blood is immediately after birth when the womb does not contract properly or
when there is uterine atony (Ramsey et al. 2014).

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Exercise 3
Comparison of the four levels of hemorrhage
It should be noted that a decline in the blood volume results in a reduction in the blood pressure
and increased pulse rate thus resulting in unconsciousness and death.
In class I hemorrhage a decrease in blood volume by 15% led to low blood pressure and high
pulse rate. The patient was acting normal.
In class II hemorrhage a reduction of blood volume by 30% led to low blood pressure (86/59
mmHg) and high pulse rate of 134mmHg. The patient was feeling faint the moment he tried to
stand.
In class III hemorrhage a reduction of blood volume by 40% led to a low blood pressure (52/36
mmHg) and high pulse rate ranging between 129 to 111 beats per minute. The patient was
unconscious and not passing urine.
In class IV hemorrhage a reduction in blood volume by more than 2000ml led to low blood
pressure of 21/14mmHg and high pulse rate of 117 beats per minute leading to the death of the
client due to hemorrhage shock
According to Setchell et al. (2012), some of the physiological regulations involved in
maintaining homeostasis include increased blood supply, increased body temperature as well as
increased supply of Carbon IV oxide gas.

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The effect of blood loss between two cardiac performances (normal and 50%)
The effect would lead to a host of changes such as a reduction on the blood pressure. However,
there would be a rise in right atrial pressure, pulse rate and total arterial resistance.
Losing lots of blood say from a serious injury say an accident or internal bleeding can reduce the
amount of blood in the body thus resulting in a drop in the blood pressure and the mean capillary
pressure. With low stroke volume due to decreased contractility or decreased venous return,
there is a decreased cardiac output as well as reduced blood pressure.
On the other hand, loss of blood can lead to a decline in the blood pressure that is compensated
to some degree by baroreceptors that give rise to the pulse rate and vasoconstriction (Thierry et
al. 2011).
How severe is loss of blood for an individual with 50% cardiac performance
Loss of blood can cause a low blood pressure and high pulse rate that may have significant
ramifications for an individual such as heart failure and death. There can also be fluid leakage
into the inflamed tissues such as in the severe acute pancreatitis as well as leak into the body
cavity like ascites. However, relative to filling most observed in the septic shock syndrome,
while a reaction to a serious infection can lead to the overreaction of the immune system
(Gilmore et al. 2014). To prevent this lots of cytokines plus nitrogen (1) oxide are produced to
open up the blood vessels while at the same time the levels of fluid inside remains

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References
Cheng, C.S., Davis, B.N., Madden, L., Bursac, N. and Truskey, G.A., 2014. Physiology and
metabolism of tissue-engineered skeletal muscle. Experimental biology and medicine, 239(9),
pp.1203-1214.
Davies, D.D. ed., 2013. Physiology of metabolism. Elsevier.
Gilmore, M.S., Clewell, D.B., Ike, Y. and Shankar, N., 2014. The Physiology and Metabolism of
Enterococci--Enterococci: From Commensals to Leading Causes of Drug Resistant Infection.
Jeon, T.I. and Osborne, T.F., 2012. SREBPs: metabolic integrators in physiology and
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Pedersen, L., Christensen, J.F. and Hojman, P., 2015. Effects of exercise on tumor physiology
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Ramsey, M., Hartke, A. and Huycke, M., 2014. The physiology and metabolism of Enterococci.
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Thierry, A., Deutsch, S.M., Falentin, H., Dalmasso, M., Cousin, F.J. and Jan, G., 2011. New
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