Cardiovascular physiology

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Cardiovascular physiology is the study of the

cardiovascular system, specifically addressing the physiology of the heart ("cardio") and blood vessels
("vascular").

These subjects are sometimes addressed separately, under the names cardiac physiology and circulatory physiology.[1]

Although the different aspects of cardiovascular physiology are closely interrelated, the subject is still usually divided into several subtopics.[citation needed]

Heart

Regulation of blood pressure

Hemodynamics

Under most circumstances, the body attempts to maintain a steady mean arterial pressure.[2]

When there is a major and immediate decrease (such as that due to

hemorrhage or standing up
), the body can increase the following:

In turn, this can have a significant impact upon several other variables:

Regional circulation

Name of circulation % of cardiac output Autoregulation Perfusion Comments
pulmonary circulation 100% (deoxygenated)
hypoxia
cerebral circulation 15%[3] high under-perfused Fixed volume means intolerance of high pressure. Minimal ability to use anaerobic respiration
coronary circulation 5% high under-perfused Minimal ability to use
systole
.)
splanchnic circulation 15% low Flow increases during digestion.
hepatic circulation
15% Part of portal venous system, so oncotic pressure is very low
renal circulation 25% high over-perfused Maintains glomerular filtration rate
skeletal muscular
circulation
17%[4] Perfusion increases dramatically during exercise.
cutaneous
circulation
2%[5] over-perfused Crucial in thermoregulation. Significant ability to use anaerobic respiration

See also

References

  1. ^ Overview Archived January 17, 2007, at the Wayback Machine at Medical College of Georgia
  2. PMID 25834232
    .
  3. ^ Nosek, Thomas M. "Section 3/3ch11/s3c11_13". Essentials of Human Physiology. Archived from the original on 2016-03-24.
  4. ^ Nosek, Thomas M. "Section 3/3ch11/s3c11_2". Essentials of Human Physiology.[dead link]
  5. ^ Nosek, Thomas M. "Section 3/3ch11/s3c11_10". Essentials of Human Physiology. Archived from the original on 2016-03-24.

External links