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The cardiovascular system is one of the vital body systems. Powered by the heart, the cardiovascular system is made up of the heart, blood vessels, and about 5 liters of blood that are transported by the blood vessels. The cardiovascular system is responsible for the transportation of oxygen, nutrients, hormones, and cellular waste products from the body. A healthy heart beats 60 to 100 times per minute.
There are two primary circulatory loops in the human body. There is the pulmonary circulation loop and the systemic circulation loop. The pulmonary circulation transports deoxygenated blood from the right side of the heart to the lungs. Once in the lungs, the blood picks up oxygen and returns to the left side of the heart to then be pumped out to the rest of the body. The right atrium and the right ventricle power the pulmonary circulation loop. The systemic circulation loop carries highly oxygenated blood from the left side of the heart to all of the tissues in the body (not the heart and lungs). Systemic circulation removes waste from body tissues and returns back to the right side of the heart as oxygen-poor blood. The left atrium and the left ventricle are the pumping chambers for the systemic circulation loop. Blood vessels are the body’s highways. They allow blood to flow quickly and efficiently from the heart to every region of the body and back again. Blood vessel size corresponds with the amount of blood that passes through the vessel. There are three major types of blood vessels. There are arteries, capillaries and veins. Arteries are blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart. Blood carried by arteries is usually oxygen-rich blood. Capillaries are the smallest and thinnest blood vessels in the body. They are the most common blood vessels and they can be found running throughout almost every tissue of the body. Veins return the oxygen-poor blood from the body to the heart. At the heart the blood can go to the lungs to be breathed out. The average human body contains about 4 to 5 liters of blood. It transports many substances through the body and helps to maintain the levels of nutrients, wastes, and gases. Blood is made up of red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, and liquid plasma. |