A powerpoint designed for the South African Life Sciences syllabus for grade 11. Includes information about blood and it's transportation, the human heart, the lymph system etc. Hope it helps :)

1. Module One: Life Processes in
Plants and Animals
Paper Two

2. • Circulation in animals is important as it ensures that
everything is working properly.
• Vital substances (e.g. water, oxygen, CO2, nutrients, waste,
hormones) have to move about within the body.
• In simpler animals, the body is small enough for substances to
diffuse from cell to cell.
• In larger, multicellular organisms, the body is too thick for
diffusion to take place. Thus a circulatory system needs to
collect various substances and distribute them throughout the
body.

3. Characteristics:
1. Blood – to transport dissolved gases, nutrients and waste
products around the body
2. Blood vessels – in which the blood flows around the body
3. Heart – pumps blood around the body
4. Valves – ensure blood pumps in only one direction
Two types of circulatory systems:
• Open
• Closed

4. • Found in invertebrate groups, including crustaceans, snails
and insects
• Blood pumped at a low pressure into the body cavity – the
haemocoel.
• Blood bathes organs directly and moves slowly through tissue
returning to the heart by means of collecting ducts.
• This is quite inefficient, and only suitable for small organisms.

5. • Found in larger animals such as segmented worms, sea
urchins and all vertebrates
• The blood remains enclosed and circulates in a system of
tubes called blood vessels.
• There is a separate fluid – tissue fluid – found between blood
vessels and cells.
• Very effective transport system. It allows blood to travel
rapidly under high pressure to wherever it is needed.

7. • We have a closed circulatory system, called the cardiovascular
system (cardio = heart; vascular = blood vessels).
• The blood flows to the most distant parts of the body & back
to the heart.
• The human circulatory system is a double system. The heart
consists of two pumps sitting alongside one another.
– The right side pumps blood to the lungs, which returns to the left side
of the heart.
– The left side pumps blood to the rest of the body, which returns to the
right side of the heart.
• Blood thus flows through two distinct circulations – the
pulmonary and the systemic.

8. • In the pulmonary circulatory system, blood that is
deoxygenated and high in carbon dioxide flows from the right
side of the heart to the lungs. In the capillaries of the
lungs, this blood takes in oxygen and gives off carbon dioxide.
Oxygenated blood then flows from the lungs to the left side of
the heart.
• In the systemic circulatory system oxygenated blood is carried
from the left heart to all cells of the body. In the capillaries of
body tissues, nutrients and gases are exchanged between
blood and cells. This blood is deoxygenated – it then flows to
the right side of the heart.

9. • In the pulmonary system, gaseous exchange takes place to
gather oxygen and eliminate carbon dioxide.
• In the systemic system, blood is pumped under pressure to all
parts of the body to supply oxygen and nutrients and take up
carbon dioxide and other waste. Blood under pressure allows:
– Tissue fluid to form when blood plasma is pushed out the capillaries.
The tissue fluid is the medium through which substances move
between the blood and cells.
– Oxygen to be carried quickly to all body cells for cellular respiration.
This releases energy and heat.

11. • The heart is a pump that applies pressure to force blood
around the body.
• It is situated in the middle of the chest thorax in a hollow
space called the mediastinum. It is protected by the ribs and
sternum.

13. • It is surrounded by pericardium, made up of two inelastic
membranes, one attached to the heart itself. Fluid is secreted
between these membranes, allowing them to move easily
over each other, preventing friction as the heart beats.
• Coronary arteries are visible. These supply nutrients and
oxygen to the heart tissue itself. Blockage of these vessels
may cause death of some of the heart muscle – resulting in a
heart attack (a.k.a a myocardial infarction or coronary
thrombosis). It can cause death.
• The heart may have deposits of fat.

14. aorta
pulmonary veins
superior vena cava
coronary artery
coronary vein
inferior vena cava

15. • The heart is divided into four chambers.
Right Atria* Left Atria
Right Ventricle Left Ventricle

16. • Atria are small and thin walled. They receive blood and push it into
the ventricles.
• Ventricles have thick walls of muscle, which contract and push
blood out of the heart. The left has a particularly thick wall because
it must pump blood to the whole body.
• The myocardium is the layer of the heart wall made of a special
tissue called cardiac muscle. This type of muscle is unique as it can
pump rhythmically over and over again without getting tired.
• The right and left sides are divided by the septum.
• The heart is lined with a smooth membrane, the endocardium.
• The ventricles have ‘bumps’, papillary muscles, from which
tendinous chords extend.

17. Two sets of valves are found in the heart. They ensure the
blood flows in one direction.
1. The atrioventricular valves (AV valves) are found between
the atria and ventricles.
– The valve between the left atrium and left ventricle is made up of
two flaps. It is called the bicuspid mitral valve.
– The valve between the right atrium and the right ventricle is made
up of 3 flaps. It is called the tricuspid valve.
– They only allow blood to flow from the atria to the ventricles.
– Tendonous chords anchor them and prevent them from being
pushed inside out by the great pressure when the ventricles
contract.

18. 2. Semilunar valves are found at the base of the pulmonary
artery and the aorta.
– They are called the pulmonary and aortic valves respectively.
– Made up of 3, half-moon-shaped membranous flaps (cusps), attached
to the internal wall of the blood vessels
– As the ventricles contract, the flaps are flattened against the wall,
allowing blood to flow from the ventricles into the blood vessels.
– As the ventricles relax, the flaps close under pressure of the blood
which is trying to flow backwards.
In the heartbeat, we hear ‘lub dup’. The lub is caused by the
closing of the AV valves. It is the louder, longer sound. The dup is
short and sharp and is caused by the closing of the semilunar
valves.

21. aorta
superior vena cava
pulmonary artery
pulmonary veins
endocardium
left atria
pulmonary aortic semilunar valve
semilunar valve mitral bicuspid valve
tricuspid valve tendinous chords
tendinous chords papillary muscle
septum
inferior vena cava
right ventricle

22. • The human heart beats about 70 times per minute. The
cardiac cycle includes all the events that take place as the
blood flows through the heart during one complete
heartbeat.
• When the cardiac muscle contracts, pressure within the heart
increases and blood is forced out. This is called ‘systole’.
• When the cardiac muscle relaxes, pressure within the heart
decreases. This allows blood to flow into the atria and
ventricles.

23. • During this phase, the atria relax.
• Blood will come in from the superior vena cava, inferior vena
cava and pulmonary veins, and will fill the atria.
• The AV valves will open and the semilunar valves close.

24. • During this phase, the ventricles relax.
• The AV valves open due to the ventricles relaxing.
• Blood from the atria are able to flow into the ventricles.
• The semilunar valves remain closed.

25. • In this phase, the atria contract.
• This forces blood from the atria into the ventricles.
• The ventricles bulge.
• The AV valves open and the semilunar valves close.

26. • In this phase the ventricles contract.
• Deoxygenated blood from the RV is forced up the pulmonary
artery to the lungs.
• Oxygenated blood is carried to the body from the aorta.
• The AV valves are closed and the semilunar valves are open.

27. 11) Blood enters aorta and pulmonary 1) All muscles relax
artery
VENTRICULAR SYSTOLE GENERAL DIASTOLE
(0.3 SEC) (0.4 SEC)
10) Semilunar valves open
2) Blood flows into heart
9) AV valves open
3) Semilunar valves
8) Muscles of ventricles close
contract
ATRIAL SYSTOLE
(0.1 SEC)
7) Blood enters ventricles
6) Blood passes AV valves 4) AV valves open
5) Atrial muscles contract

28. • Most muscles rely on nerve impulses to cause them to
contract. Heart muscle, however, is myogenic – i.e. its
contractions arise from within the muscle tissue itself.
• Embedded in the wall of the right atrium is the sino-atrial
node or SA node. This generates the heartbeat by sending out
tiny electrical impulses.
• These impulses stimulate another special patch of tissue, the
atrioventricular node or AV node in the lower, left hand
corner of the right atrium.
• This eventually causes the contractions.
• The heartbeat is also controlled chemically by a hormone
called epinephrine, or adrenaline, which increases the
heartbeat during times of stress.

29. SA Node
AV Node

30. • Increased levels of CO2 in blood
During exercise, CO2 in blood increases. This results in an increase in the
cardiac rate so that carbon dioxide-rich blood is taken quickly to the lungs
to be oxygenated.
• Increased venous return to the heart
During exercise, blood vessels passing through the exercising muscles
relax and dilate so as to carry more blood, therefore more blood flows
back into the heart. The increased blood causes the SA node to be
stimulated, thus increasing the cardiac rate. The blood is able to be
pumped out quickly.

31. • The pulse is the rate of contraction and expansion of an artery
as blood is pumped through the body.
• As the heart contracts, blood is pumped into the aorta and
the aorta stretches. The pulse wave passes along the walls of
the aorta and into similar arteries.

32. There are essentially three types of blood vessels: arteries,
veins and capillaries.
• Arteries take blood away from the heart
• Veins carry blood towards the heart
• Capillaries connect the arterial and venous systems and are
sites of exchange between the blood and tissues.
As the heart contracts, blood is forced into the large arteries.
The arteries branch into narrower vessels, finally reaching the
capillaries. These form venules, which form veins, which return
blood to the heart.

34. The vessel walls are essentially made up of three distinct layers
surrounding a lumen.
• A single inner layer of squamous endothelial* cells forms a
smooth surface that reduced friction, so that blood moves
through the vessels unhindered.
• A middle layer of circularly arranged smooth muscle cells and
elastic fibres. These control the diameter of the lumen
according to how much blood needs to be pumped through
the body.
• An outer layer of inelastic collagen fibres strengthen the
vessels.

35. • Located deep inside the body.
• Functions:
– Carry oxygenated blood away from the heart to the tissues
– Act as pressure reservoirs – they keep blood moving during diastole.
– Arteries and arterioles control the distribution of blood to the venous organs
by vasoconstriction and vasodilation.
• Structure:

36. • Functions:
– Carry deoxygenated blood to the heart from the tissues.
• Structure:
– Have thin walls with a small amount of muscle tissue. They are thus
floppy with an irregular lumen.
– In large veins, e.g. in legs, semilunar valves may be present.

37. • Functions:
– Diffusion of substances between blood and body cells.
– The pores allow for phagocytes to move in and out of the vessel wall.
• Structure:

38. • Arteries
– Are not found at the surface of the body as they must be
protected, and because they must regulate body temperature.
– Have a thick muscle layer to pump consistent measures of blood at a
high pressure.
• Veins
– Have an irregular shape as they pump inconsistent measures of blood.
• Capillaries
– Have thin walls to reduce size and allow for easy diffusion of
substances.
– Pores allow for white blood cells to move in and out of capillaries.

39. • Blood pressure is the force exerted by blood against the walls
of blood vessels.
• The factors that maintain blood pressure are:
– Pumping of the heart
– Narrowness of the smaller arterioles which causes peripheral
resistance to the flow of blood.
• Blood pressure in the arteries will rise and fall.
– It increases due to the contractions of the ventricle (systole).
– It decreases during the relaxing of heart muscle (diastole).

40. Systolic Blood Pressure
• This refers to the maximum pressure reached in the aorta
when the ventricles contract.
• The average in a healthy adult is 120mm Hg.
Diastolic Blood Pressure
• This refers to the lower pressure in the aorta when the
ventricles relax.
• In diastole, blood is kept pumping by elastic blood vessels.
• The average in a healthy adult is 80mm Hg.

41. • A steady pressure of blood flow ensures that cells are
constantly receiving the correct amount of
nutrients, oxygen, etc.
• Blood pressure in capillaries is lower than in the arterioles.
This is important because:
– Diffusion can thus take place slowly.
– The thin walls would rupture under high pressure.
• Blood is measured with a baumanometer or electronically.
The first number is the systolic BP and the second is the
diastolic BP. It is recorded with the systolic over the
diastolic, e.g. 120/80 mm Hg.

42. Blood Vessel Function
Aorta Oxygenated blood from the heart to body tissues
Carotid Artery (left) Oxygenated blood from the heart to the head
Pulmonary Artery Deoxygenated blood from the heart to the lungs
Hepatic Artery Oxygenated blood from the heart to the liver
Femoral Artery Oxygenated blood from the heart to the legs
Subclavian Artery (right) Oxygenated blood from the heart to the right arm
Renal Artery Oxygenated blood from the heart to the kidneys

43. Blood Vessel Function
Renal Vein Deoxygenated blood from the kidneys to the heart
Femoral Vein Deoxygenated blood from the legs to the heart
Hepatic Vein Deoxygenated blood from the liver to the heart
Hepatic Portal Vein Deoxygenated blood from the gut to the liver
Inferior Vena Cava Deoxygenated blood from the lower body to the heart
Subclavian Vein (left) Deoxygenated blood from the left arm to the heart
Pulmonary Vein Oxygenated blood from the lungs to the heart
Jugular Vein Deoxygenated blood from the head to the heart
Superior Vena Cava Deoxygenated blood from the upper body to the heart

45. The function of blood is to transport nutrients to all body organs
and tissues and carry away waste materials. An adult body
contains about 5 litres of blood.
It contains:
• 45% blood cells including
– Red blood cells
– White blood cells
– Platelets
• 55% plasma consisting of
– 91% water
– 7% proteins
– 2% other substances

46. It is a watery, straw-coloured liquid which contains:
• dissolved substances like nutrients, waste
materials, ions, hormones and gases
• Plasma proteins, including
– Fibrinogen (for blood clotting)
– Albumen (creates the blood’s osmotic pressure)
– Antibodies (to destroy germs)
Plasma transports:
• Blood cells, nutrients, antibodies, CO2, urea, hormones, heat
and blood clotting factors.

47. • Platelets
– Smallest blood cells. They appear round but can have hair-like
filaments on their surface.
– Make blood clotting occur.
• White blood cells
– They are created in the spleen, lymph glands and in red bone marrow.
– They are large and irregular in shape.
– Fight against disease – e.g. phagocytes and lymphocytes.
• Red blood cells
– Are biconcave disk-shaped cells which contain haemoglobin.
– They have no nucleus and few organelles.
– Their main function is to transport oxygen, but can also contain a
small amount of carbon dioxide.

48. • Consists of lymphatic vessels, lymph nodes and other
lymphoid organs and tissues, e.g. tonsils, thymus, spleen
and areas in the gastrointestinal tract. These parts all
contain lymph.
• The fluid lymph consists of water, solutes (of
protien, salts, glucose, urea) and white blood cells. The
white blood cells include:
– Lymphocytes (also found in blood), including B- and T-lymphocytes.
– Macrophages which trap and digest pathogens by phagocytosis.
• This is why lymph glands swell when one has an infection.

49. Functions:
• Helps maintain fluid balance by collecting excess tissue fluid in
the body and depositing it into the bloodstream.
• Defends the body against infection with its blood cells.
• Transports absorbed fat to the blood stream.
Relationship between Blood and Lymph System:
• The lymph system is a subsystem of the circulatory system.
• Lymph is formed when blood plasma seeps out of blood
capillaries, bathes the body cells and seeps into the lymph
system. It then re-enters the blood stream in the subclavian
veins, near the heart.

50. Blood transfusion is the transfer of blood from a donor to a
recipient. It is highly effective, and used to:
• Restore blood or plasma after extensive haemorrhage or
burns.
• To increase the number of red blood cells in persons with
anaemia.
A donor’s blood must be examined to:
• Make sure that it does not contain pathogens e.g. HIV.
• Find out its blood groups – incompatible combinations
result in agglutination.

51. • There are four major blood groups: A, B, AB and O.
• They are based on antigens, or agglutinogens found on the
surface of the red blood cells.
– Blood group A has A antigens
– Blood group B has B antigens
– Blood group AB has AB antigens
– Blood group O has no antigens
• The groups also have antibodies in the plasma. Clumping
occurs when the antibody of the donors blood matches the
antigen of the recipients blood. The blood cells agglutinate and
can block a person’s blood vessels and become fatal.

52. Blood Group RBC antigens Illustration Plasma Blood that can
antibodies be received
AB A and B None A, B, AB, O
A A Anti-B A, O
B B Anti-A B, O
O O Anti-A and B O

53. • Blood has an abnormally low oxygen-carrying capacity.
• Symptoms are: tiredness, shortness of breath, being pale and
being cold.
• People become anaemic when:
– There is a shortage of substances needed by the bone marrow to
make red blood cells. If iron is missing, it is called iron-deficiency
anaemia. The sufferer needs to have iron-rich vegetables
– Disease in the mone marrow, e.g. if the bone marrow is damaged
during chemo.
– Excessive breakdown of red blood cells, e.g. by malaria.
– Blood loss, e.g. by heavy menstrual periods, traumas and intestinal
damage in children.

54. • Makes the white blood cells become enlarged and abnormal.
• The infected person will thus be prone to infections and
fevers.
• Leukaemia causes less red blood cells and platelets to be
made, while more white blood cells are created. Thus, the
sufferers are tired and bleed and bruise easily.
• Treatment:
– Chemotherapy: cancer cells destroyed by drugs.
– Radiotherapy: cancer cells stopped from growing and multiplying by
high energy rays like X-rays.
– Biological therapy: i.e. a bone marrow transplant.

55. • Very high blood pressure: 140/90 or higher.
• Can lead to:
– a stroke (blood vessel ruptures in brain due to pressure)
– heart failure (as the heart is forced to work harder)
– brain and kidney damage (tears in blood vessels reduce blood flow to
brain and/or kidney).
• Those most at risk:
– Smokers
– The obese
– Type 2 diabetes sufferers
– Emotionally stressed persons
– The sedentary

56. • Other factors:
– Increasing age, i.e. being over 40
– Hereditarily predisposed
– Kidney disease
• Treatment:
– An improved lifestyle
– Anti-hypertensive drugs

57. • Low blood pressure, systolic blood pressure under 100 mm
Hg.
• This is often associated with long life and an old age free of
illness.

58. • A heart attack occurs when the coronary artery taking blood
to the cardiac muscle is cut or blocked.
• The muscle is starved of nutrients and oxygen, and death of
tissue may occur. It may kill someone within a few minutes.
• It occurs when a plaque (collection of cholesterol molecules)
forms when cholesterol molecules slip below the endothelium
of the coronary arteries.
• If the plaques burst, blood clots form and block the flow of
blood to the heart.
• Inflammation cause the plaques to burst easily.

59. • Risk factors that can be controlled:
– High BP or blood cholesterol
– Smoke cigarettes
– Obesity
– Type-2 diabetes
– Environmental stress
– Sedentary lifestyle
– Diet high in sugars and fats and low in vegetables
• Risk factors that can’t be controlled:
– Being male
– Middle-aged
– Having a high-achiever personality
– Being hereditarily predisposed to this condition

60. Coronary artery bypass:
• Most common treatment.
• A section of a vein without valves, often in the leg, is grafted onto
the coronary artery so that blood can bypass the blocked area.
Coronary angioplasty:
• Involves using tiny balloons surrounded by a metal stent (wire
spring) to open up the blocked artery. The stent and deflated
balloon is put onto the end of a long tube and inserted into the
femoral artery, up the aorta and into the coronary artery.
• Once in position, the balloon is inflated to open the artery, so that
blood can flow freely. The stent remains in the blood vessel wall
so that the artery stays open.

61. A stroke is a brain attack or cerebro-vascular accident. A thrombosis
or a haemmorhage could cause a stroke.
There are many different kinds of strokes:
• A thrombosis in a brain artery
– Similar to a heart attack, but in the brain. Brain cells get cut off from
oxygenated blood and die out.
– Symptoms include: paralysis of the limbs on one side of the body,
difficulties with speech and/or swallowing, visual field disturbances and
unconciousness.
• Sudden rupture of blood vessel in brain
– Can cause sudden death if it occurs in the medulla oblongata area. Brain
cells are killed rapidly.
– Symptoms can be the same as in cerebral thrombosis.

62. • Rupture of blood vessel inside the skull but outside the brain
– Pressure against the brain will build up quickly and cause a sudden,
severe headache.
– The pressure can result in the death of brain cells.
– The result will depend on the amount of bleeding and the position of
the rupture in the skull.
• This is a chest pain due to certain areas of the cardiac muscle
receiving insufficient blood.