Cardiovascular System: Anatomy, Physiology, and Preventive Measures

This report addresses the normal structure and function of the cardiovascular system. It begins by defining the cardiovascular system, highlighting the roles of the heart, blood, and blood vessels. The report details the anatomy of the heart, including the auricles and ventricles, and explains the flow of blood through the chambers. It also describes the blood vessels, including arteries, veins, and capillaries. The report further addresses the changes that can occur with atherosclerosis and its effects, and outlines some of the possible factors leading to the development of atherosclerosis, and steps that can be taken to lower the risk of developing this condition. The report is supported by a diagram illustrating the circulatory system, and includes references in Harvard style.

Cardiovascular System 1
Cardiovascular System Physiology
Student Name;
Institution;
Supervisor;

Cardiovascular System 2
Cardiovascular System
The Cardiovascular system is derived from two words; cardio meaning heart and vascular
referring to vessels. It is the organ system responsible for blood circulation in the body. It is also
named the Circulatory System. It ensures crucial nutrients such as oxygen and wastes such as
Carbon dioxide are transported to and from body cells. The circulatory system comprises the
heart, blood and the blood vessels (Chen et al, 2017).
The human heart contains four parts namely; the left and right auricle and the left and
right ventricle. The heart receives deoxygenated blood from body via the right auricle and pumps
it to the right ventricle. The right ventricle then pumps impure blood to the lungs for
oxygenation. After oxygenation, blood is pumped from lungs to the left auricle which then
pumps it to the left ventricle. The left ventricle has thick muscular walls that allows for pumping
of oxygenated blood to the rest of body (Varela, & Davos, 2019). The chambers are connected to
blood vessels such as the aorta and pulmonary vein.
The human blood vessels comprise of arteries, veins and capillaries. Arteries are thick
walled blood vessels responsible for transporting oxygenated blood from the heart to the rest of
the body, examples include; the aorta and the axillary artery. Veins are blood vessels tasked with
the ferrying of deoxygenated blood to the lungs (Mueller, Hassel, & Grealy, 2015). Examples
include; pulmonary and the systemic vein. Capillaries are the smallest of all blood vessels,
interconnecting the arteries and the veins. Capillaries have the thinnest walls of all blood vessels
which allow for the easy movement of nutrients and wastes to and from the relevant body cells.
The cardiovascular system is demonstrated diagrammatically as follows:

Cardiovascular System 3
Figure 1: The cardiovascular circulatory system. 2019. Royalty Free Stock Photo by Designua.
Retrieved from: https://avopix.com/premium-photo/163938812-shutterstock-the-cardiovascular-
circulatory-system

Cardiovascular System 4
References
Chen, Y., Chan, H.N., Michael, S.A., Shen, Y., Chen, Y., Tian, Q., Huang, L. and Wu, H., 2017.
A microfluidic circulatory system integrated with capillary-assisted pressure sensors. Lab on a
Chip, 17(4), pp.653-662.
Mueller, W.A., Hassel, M. and Grealy, M., 2015. Heart and Blood Vessels. In Development and
Reproduction in Humans and Animal Model Species (pp. 499-516). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Varela, A. and Davos, C.H., 2019. Cardiovascular Anatomy and Physiology: Basic Principles
and Challenges. In Cardiovascular Computing—Methodologies and Clinical Applications (pp. 3-
11). Springer, Singapore.

Cardiovascular System 5