The circulatory system

After seeing digestive and respiratory system, the next one is the cardiovascular system. It has a pretty important function in the nutrition role. As you already know, every cell in your body depends on your cardiovascular system. It keeps all of your cells supplied with nutrients from the intestine (digestive system) and oxygen from the lungs (respiratory system). It also removes their waste products, carbon dioxide to the lungs and the nitrogenous wastes to the kidneys.

Actually the circulatory system has many jobs, but we can cosider three main functions:

• Transport of nutrients, oxygen, and hormones to cells throughout the body and removal of metabolic wastes (carbon dioxide, nitrogenous wastes, and heat).
• Protection of the body by white blood cells and antibodies that circulate in the blood and defend the body against foreign microbes and toxins. Clotting mechanisms are also present that protect the body from blood loss after injuries.
• Regulation of body temperature and fluid pH...

This video can be a good help to begin with the circulatory system.


The cardiovascular system shown in Figure is made up of: The heart
It pushes the blood around your body through the blood vessels. The heart is made of cardiac muscle. Blood is collected in the heart and pumped out to the lungs, where it releases carbon dioxide and picks up oxygen before it is pumped to the rest of the body.
The blood vessels
Their job is to channel the blood around the body. There are three main types of blood vessels in the body; arteries, veins, and capillaries
Arteries are blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart. Further from the heart, arteries form smaller arteries. These smaller arteries branch into smaller vessels. The smaller blood vessels help to bring nutrients and oxygen and take away waste from body tissues.
Capillaries are the tiniest blood vessels in the body located within the tissues of the body. They transport blood from the arteries to the veins. The walls of capillaries are only a single layer of cells thick. Oxygen, carbon dioxide, nutrients, and wastes are exchanged through their thin walls. Capillaries are so narrow that blood cells must move in single file through them.
Veins are blood vessels that carry back the blood from the different regions of the body to the heart.
The blood
Blood is a body fluid that is a type of connective tissue. Blood is made of blood cells, and a fluid called plasma. The main types of cells found in blood are red blood cells and white blood cells.
Finally remember you something you studied last course. The cardiovascular system of humans is closed. That means the blood never leaves the large loop of blood vessels in which it travels. Other animals such as invertebrates have open circulatory systems, in which their blood can leave the blood vessels.