Heart Dissection Lab

1. The pericardium protects the heart and keeps it in place. The membrane is made of an outer fibrous layer and an inner serous double layer.

2. Arteries are thicker than veins because they need to withstand more pressure as blood is being pumped out of the heart to the rest of the body. However, the veins carry more blood by volume than the arteries back to the heart for oxygenation.

3. The auricles are appendages connected to the outsides of the atria and serve to increase the blood holding capacity of the atria.

4. The ventricles are larger than the atria and do not have auricles attached to them.

5. The coronary sinus brings deoxygenated blood from the coronary veins into the right atrium. The inferior vena cava carried deoxygenated blood from the part of the body below the heart into the right atrium. The right atrioventricular valve (aka tricuspid valve) prevents the back flow of blood when the blood travels from the right atrium to the right ventricle.

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7. The heart valves need to be anchored by chordae tendinae to keep them from opening when the ventricle contracts and the blood pushes against the valves. The papillary muscles control when the valves open and close.

8. Down the pulmonary trunk, you can just see the bicuspid valve, which lies between the left atrium and ventricle.

9. The semi-lunar valves, located at the base of the aorta in the left ventricle and at the opening of the pulmonary trunk on the right ventricle, prevent the back flow of blood into the heart once it is pumped out.

10. Valvular Heart Disease:
      a) if the valve disease occurs on the right side of the heart, the feet and ankles may swell because the right ventricle/atrium are unable to pump all of the blood against gravity back into the heart for reoxygenation. The blood would leak back out and presumably into the foot area.
      b) the the disease occurs on the left side of the heart, not enough blood would be distributed to the rest of the body, which would starve the cells of oxygen and cause the heart to swell.

11. The right and left coronary arteries branch from the aorta and wrap around the heart. The aortic semilunar valve prevents blood from flowing from the aorta back into the left ventricle. The bicuspid valve prevents back flow from the left ventricle to the right atrium. Chordae tendinae attach the valve to the papillary muscle in the ventricle to make sure the valve can withstand pressure and stay closed when appropriate.

12. The left side of the heart has thicker walls because the extra muscle is needed to pump oxygenated blood to the rest of the body. The right side has much thinner walls because it only needs to pump blood to the heart for reoxygentation.

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