Systemic circulation
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Overview
Systemic circulation is the portion of the cardiovascular system which carries oxygenated blood away from the heart, to the body, and returns deoxygenated blood back to the heart. The term is contrasted with pulmonary circulation.
Course
In the systematic circulation, arteries bring oxygenated blood to the tissues. As blood circulates through the body, oxygen diffuses from the blood into cells surrounding the capillaries, and carbon dioxide diffuses into the blood from the capillary cells. Veins bring deoxygenated blood back to the heart.
Arteries
- See also: Arterial tree
Oxygenated blood enters the systemic circulation when leaving the left ventricle, through the aortic semi-lunar valve. The first part of the systemic circulation is the artery aorta, a massive and thick-walled artery. The aorta arches and gives off major arteries to the upper body before piercing the diaphragm in order to supply the lower parts of the body with its various branches.
Capillaries
Blood passes from arteries to capillaries, which are the thinnest and most numerous of the blood vessels. These capillaries help to join tissue with arterioles for transportation of nutrition to the cells, which absorb oxygen and nutrients in the blood. Peripheral tissues do not fully deoxygenate the blood, so venous blood does have oxygen, but in a lower concentration than in arterial blood. In addition, carbon dioxide and wastes are added.
Venules
The deoxygenated blood is then collected by venules, from where it flows first into veins, and then into the inferior and superior venae cavae, which return it to the right heart, completing the systemic cycle. The blood is then re-oxygenated through the pulmonary circulation before returning again to the systemic circulation.
Veins
The relatively de-oxygenated blood collects in the venous system which coalesces into two major veins: the superior vena cava (roughly speaking from areas above the heart) and the inferior vena cava (roughly speaking from areas below the heart). These two great vessels exit the systemic circulation by emptying into the right atrium of the heart. The coronary sinus empties the heart's veins themselves into the right atrium.
Advantage
Because the systemic circulation is powered by the left ventricle (which is very muscular), one advantage of this form of circulation - as opposed to open circulation, or the gill system that fishes use to breathe - is that there is simultaneous high-pressure oxygenated blood delivered to all parts of the body.
See also
Cardiovascular system | |
|---|---|
| Systemic circulation | Heart → Aorta → Arteries → Arterioles → Capillaries → Venules → Veins → Vena cava → Heart |
| Pulmonary circulation | Heart → Pulmonary arteries → Lungs → Pulmonary vein → Heart |
List of arteries of upper limbs | |
|---|---|
| Axillary | scapular anastomosis - 1st part superior thoracic - 2nd part thoracoacromial (deltoid branch) - lateral thoracic - 3rd part subscapular (circumflex scapular, thoracodorsal) - anterior humeral circumflex - posterior humeral circumflex |
| Brachial | profunda brachii (radial collateral, medial collateral) - ulnar collateral artery (superior, inferior) |
| Radial | forearm: radial recurrent
wrist/carpus: dorsal carpal branch - palmar carpal branch hand: superficial palmar branch - princeps pollicis (radial of index finger) |
| Ulnar | forearm: ulnar recurrent (anterior, posterior) - common interosseous (anterior, posterior, recurrent)
wrist/carpus: dorsal carpal branch - palmar carpal branch hand: deep palmar branch |
| Arches | dorsal carpal arch: dorsal metacarpal (dorsal digital)
superficial palmar arch: common palmar digital (proper palmar digital) deep palmar arch: palmar metacarpal |
List of arteries of torso - chest | |
|---|---|
| Pulmonary / coronary | right coronary: SA nodal - AV nodal - atrial - right marginal - posterior interventricular left coronary: anterior interventricular - left circumflex - left marginal |
| Ascending aorta | aortic arch - brachiocephalic (thyreoidea ima) - common carotid |
| Subclavian | internal thoracic: anterior intercostal - thymic - pericardiacophrenic - terminal (musculophrenic, superior epigastric) costocervical trunk: highest intercostal (posterior intercostal 1-2) - deep cervical |
| Descending / thoracic aorta | visceral: bronchial - esophageal - mediastinal parietal: posterior intercostal 3-11 - subcostal - superior phrenic |
List of arteries of torso - abdomen | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AA: Anterior |
| ||||||
| AA: Posterior |
visceral: middle suprarenal – renal (inferior suprarenal, ureteral) – gonadal (testicular ♂/ovarian ♀)parietal: inferior phrenic (superior suprarenal) – lumbar – median sacral terminal: common iliac (IIA, EIA) | ||||||
| IIA: Anterior |
middle rectal –
obturator (anterior branch, posterior branch) –
inferior gluteal (accompanying of ischiadic nerve, crucial anastomosis)
uterine ♀ (helicine, vaginal of uterine, ovarian of uterine, tubal of uterine) – vaginal ♀/inferior vesical ♂ perineal (urethral) – posterior scrotal ♂/labial ♀ – bulb of penis ♂/vestibule ♀ – deep artery of the penis ♂ (helicine)/clitoris ♀ – dorsal of the penis ♂/clitoris ♀ | ||||||
| IIA: Posterior |
iliolumbar (lumbar, iliac) – lateral sacral – superior gluteal | ||||||
| EIA | deep circumflex iliac – femoral | ||||||
List of arteries of lower limbs | |
|---|---|
| EI: Femoral | superficial epigastric - superficial iliac circumflex
external pudendal: superficial - deep (anterior scrotal) profunda femoris: lateral circumflex femoral (descending, transverse, ascending) - medial circumflex femoral (ascending, superficial, deep, acetabular) - perforating descending genicular (saphenous branch, articular branches) |
| Popliteal | sural genicular: superior genicular (medial, lateral) - middle genicular - inferior genicular (medial, lateral) |
| Anterior tibial | tibial recurrent (posterior, anterior)
anterior malleolar (medial, lateral) dorsalis pedis: tarsal (medial, lateral) |
| Posterior tibial | circumflex fibular - fibular medial plantar - lateral plantar |
| Arches | arcuate: dorsal metatarsal/first dorsal metatarsal - deep plantar - dorsal digital arteries plantar arch: plantar metatarsal - common plantar digital - proper plantar digital |
| ||||
Acknowledgement and Attribution Regarding Sources of Content
Some of the initial content on this page may be incorporated in part from copyleft sources in the public domain including wikis such as Wikipedia and AskDrWiki. Drug information for patients came from the The National Library of Medicine. Infectious disease information may have come from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Differential Diagnoses are drawn from clinicians as well as an amalgamation of 3 sources: 1.The Disease Database; 2. Kahan, Scott, Smith, Ellen G. In A Page: Signs and Symptoms. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2004:3; 3. Sailer, Christian, Wasner, Susanne. Differential Diagnosis Pocket. Hermosa Beach, CA: Borm Bruckmeir Publishing LLC, 2002:7 .
