Everything about Pulmonary Circulation totally explained
Pulmonary circulation is the portion of the
cardiovascular system which carries
oxygen-depleted
blood away from the heart, to the
lungs, and returns oxygenated blood back to the heart. The term is contrasted with
systemic circulation.
Course
In the pulmonary circulation, deoxygenated blood exits the heart through the
pulmonary arteries, enters the lungs and oxygenated blood comes back through
pulmonary veins.
The blood moves from right ventricle of the heart to the lungs back to the left atrium.
Right heart
Oxygen-depleted blood from the
body leaves the systemic circulation when it enters the
right heart, more specifically the
right atrium through the
superior vena cava. The blood is then pumped through the
tricuspid valve (or right atrioventricular valve), into the
right ventricle.
Arteries
From the
right ventricle, blood is pumped through the pulmonary
semilunar valve into the
pulmonary artery. This blood enters the two
pulmonary arteries (one for each lung) and travels through the
lungs.
Lungs
The pulmonary arteries carry blood to the lungs, where
red blood cells release
carbon dioxide and pick up oxygen during
respiration.
Exchanges carbon dioxide for oxygen in the lungs.
Veins
The oxygenated blood then leaves the lungs through
pulmonary veins, which return it to the
left heart, completing the pulmonary cycle. This blood then enters the
left atrium, which pumps it through the bicuspid valve, also called the mitral or left atrioventricular valve, into the
left ventricle. The blood is then distributed to the body through the systemic circulation before returning again to the pulmonary circulation.
History
Pulmonary circulation was first discovered and published by
Ibn Nafis in his
Commentary on Anatomy in Avicenna's Canon (1242), for which he's considered the father of
circulatory physiology. It was later published by
Michael Servetus in
Christianismi Restitutio (1553).
Since it was a theology work condemned by most of the Christian factions of his time, the discovery remained mostly unknown until the dissections of
William Harvey in
1616.
Embryonic
The pulmonary circulation loop is virtually bypassed in
fetal circulation. The fetal lungs are collapsed, and blood passes from the right atrium directly into the left atrium through the
foramen ovale, an open passage between the two atria. When the lungs expand at birth, the pulmonary pressure drops and blood is drawn from the right atrium into the right ventricle and through the pulmonary circuit. Over the course of several months, the
foramen ovale closes, leaving a shallow depression known as the
fossa ovalis in the adult heart.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Pulmonary Circulation'.
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