Pulmonary circulation is the portion of the cardiovascular system which carries oxygen-depleted blood away from the heart, to the lungs, and returns oxygenated blood back to the heart. The term is contrasted with systemic circulation.
Additional recommended knowledge
Course
In the pulmonary circulation, deoxygenated blood exits the heart through arteries, enters the lungs and comes back through pulmonary veins.
Right heart
Oxygen-depleted blood from the body leaves the systemic circulation when it enters the right heart, more specifically the right atrium. The blood is then pumped through the tricuspid valve (or right atrioventricular valve), into the right ventricle.
Arteries
From the right ventricle, blood is pumped through the pulmonary semi-lunar valve into the pulmonary artery. This blood enters the two pulmonary arteries (one for each lung) and travels through the lungs.
Lungs
The pulmonary arteries carry blood to the lungs, where red blood cells release carbon dioxide and pick up oxygen during respiration.
Veins
The oxygenated blood then leaves the lungs through pulmonary veins, which return it to the left heart, completing the pulmonary cycle. This blood then enters the left atrium, which pumps it through the bicuspid valve, also called the mitral or left atrioventricular valve, into the left ventricle. The blood is then distributed to the body through the systemic circulation before returning again to the pulmonary circulation.
History
Pulmonary circulation was first discovered and published by Ibn Nafis in his Commentary on Anatomy in Avicenna's Canon (1242), for which he is considered the father of circulatory physiology.[1] It was later published by Michael Servetus in Christianismi Restitutio (1553).
Since it was a theology work condemned by most of the Christian factions of his time, the discovery remained mostly unknown until the dissections of William Harvey in 1616.
Embryonic
The pulmonary circulation loop is virtually bypassed in fetal circulation. The fetal lungs are collapsed, and blood passes from the right atrium directly into the left atrium through the foramen ovale, an open passage between the two atria. When the lungs expand at birth, the pulmonary pressure drops and blood is drawn from the right atrium into the right ventricle and through the pulmonary circuit. Over the course of several months, the foramen ovale closes, leaving a shallow depression known as the fossa ovalis in the adult heart.
See also
References
- ^ Chairman's Reflections (2004), "Traditional Medicine Among Gulf Arabs, Part II: Blood-letting", Heart Views 5 (2), p. 74-85 [80].
List of arteries of head and neck |
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Anterior: CC/EC | superior thyroid (superior laryngeal) - lingual (sublingual)
facial: cervical branches (ascending palatine, tonsillar, submental, glandular) - facial branches (inferior labial, superior labial, lateral nasal, angular)
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Posterior and ascending: CC/EC | occipital - posterior auricular (stylomastoid) - ascending pharyngeal (meningeal branches) |
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Terminal, superficial temporal: CC/EC | transverse facial - middle temporal (zygomaticoörbital) - anterior auricular - frontal - parietal
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Terminal, maxillary: CC/EC | 1st part: anterior tympanic - deep auricular - middle meningeal (superior tympanic) - accessory meningeal - inferior alveolar (mylohyoid)
2nd part: deep temporal - pterygoid branches - masseteric - buccal
3rd part: posterior superior alveolar - infraorbital (anterior superior alveolar) - descending palatine - artery of the pterygoid canal - sphenopalatine |
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portions #1 and 2: CC/IC | cervical portion (carotid sinus) - petrous portion (Vidian, caroticotympanic) |
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cavernous portion/ophthalmic: CC/IC | orbital group: lacrimal (lateral palpebral) - supraorbital - posterior ethmoidal - anterior ethmoidal - medial palpebral - supratrochlear - dorsal nasal
ocular group: central retinal - ciliary (short posterior, long posterior, anterior) - superior hypophysial - inferior hypophysial
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cerebral portion: CC/IC | ACA - anterior communicating - MCA (anterolateral central) - posterior communicating - anterior choroidal - circle of Willis |
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vertebral artery: SC | meningeal branches - posterior spinal - anterior spinal - PICA - basilar (pontine, labyrinthine, AICA, SCA, PCA) |
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thyrocervical trunk: SC | inferior thyroid (inferior laryngeal, tracheal, esophageal, ascending cervical) - suprascapular - transverse cervical - dorsal scapular |
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List of arteries of upper limbs |
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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 |
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Brachial | profunda brachii (radial collateral, medial collateral) - superior ulnar collateral - inferior ulnar collateral |
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Radial | forearm: radial recurrent - palmar carpal branch - superficial palmar branch wrist: dorsal carpal branch (dorsal carpal arch, dorsal metacarpal, dorsal digital) hand: princeps pollicis - radial of index finger - deep palmar arch (palmar metacarpal) |
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Ulnar | forearm: anterior ulnar recurrent - posterior ulnar recurrent - common interosseous (anterior, posterior, recurrent) wrist: palmar carpal branch - dorsal carpal branch hand: superficial palmar arch (common palmar digital, proper palmar digital) - deep palmar branch - palmar carpal arch |
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List of arteries of torso - abdomen |
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AA: Anterior |
celiac |
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SMA |
inferior pancreaticoduodenal –
intestinal (jejunal, ileal, arcades, vasa recta) –
ileocolic (colic, anterior cecal, posterior cecal, ileal branch, appendicular) –
right colic –
middle colic
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IMA |
left colic –
sigmoid –
superior rectal –
marginal
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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)
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IIA: Anterior |
umbilical
(superior vesical,
to ductus deferens) –
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 ♂
internal pudendal: inferior rectal - perineal (urethral) - posterior scrotal ♂/labial ♀ - bulb of penis ♂/vestibule ♀ - deep artery of the penis ♂ (helicine)/clitoris ♀ - dorsal of the penis ♂/clitoris ♀
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IIA: Posterior |
iliolumbar (lumbar, iliac) –
lateral sacral –
superior gluteal
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EIA |
inferior epigastric
(cremasteric, round ligament) –
deep circumflex iliac – femoral
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List of arteries of lower limbs |
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EI: Femoral | superficial epigastric - superficial iliac circumflex - external pudendal (superficial, deep/anterior scrotal arteries) - profunda femoris (lateral circumflex femoral, medial circumflex femoral, perforating) - descending genicular |
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Popliteal | anterior tibial - sural genicular: superior genicular (medial, lateral) - middle genicular - inferior genicular (medial, lateral) |
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Anterior tibial | dorsalis pedis: tarsal (lateral - medial) - arcuate - dorsal metatarsal/first dorsal metatarsal - deep plantar
tibial recurrent (posterior, anterior)
anterior malleolar (medial, lateral) |
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Posterior tibial | circumflex fibular - fibular medial plantar - lateral plantar (plantar arch, plantar metatarsal) |
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