Structure of the heart

It's no secret that the heart is the most important organ in the human body. Despite what a person does, the activity of his heart is displayed both on his inner state and on his appearance. The heart is a continuously working live motor that pumps huge amounts of blood through the vessels. One-way blood flow is provided by the heart valves, which open under pressure in one direction. The heart muscle contracts accurately and clearly, experiencing incredibly large overloads. Throughout the life of a person, the heart works continuously, which actually supports this life.

Constant sports activities or physical activities cause the heart to work hard, and as a result, the heart muscle becomes denser. At the same time, the capacity of the ventricles also increases. If the heart muscle is fatigued from work and can not surpass all the blood entering the cavity, stagnant expansion of the heart and heart failure may develop . In order to better understand all these processes, it is necessary to delve into such a concept as "the structure of the heart".

External structure of the heart

As a rule, at the word "heart" a person imagines a small scarlet heart pierced by an arrow of the Cupid. But does it really look like this? Of course not.

The shape of the heart is a cone, oblate in the anteroposterior direction. The structure of the heart implies a distinction between the base and the apex. The base is an enlarged part that is directed to the right, up and slightly back, the tip is the lower pointed part, respectively directed to the left, down and slightly forward.

On the very surface of this organ can be found a lot of different protrusions and grooves, which form blood vessels. The largest of them have their names. This, for example, is the coronal sulcus, which runs across the cardiac axis and is an external indicator of the delimitation of the ventricles and atria. In addition, on the surface of the heart there is a posterior and anterior interventricular grooves - external indications of the boundaries of the ventricles. Here also lie heart vessels. To everything, on the surface of the heart there are two outgrowths - the auricles of the atria.

Internal structure of the heart

Inside, the heart looks more complicated. The first thing that you should pay attention to, studying the structure of the heart, is that there are four valves that provide blood flow in the direction forward and prevent its reverse current. Tri-fold and mitral atrial-ventricular valves separate the ventricles from the atria, pulmonary and aortic semilunar valves - ventricles from large arteries. All of them are attached to the fibrous skeleton of the heart. The heart is composed of a very thick connective tissue, which is the support for muscles and valves.

In general, describing the structure of the heart, it is important to note that the heart itself consists of four chambers: the left atrium, the right atrium, the left ventricle and the right ventricle. All of them are separated by partitions. The left atrium includes pulmonary veins, in the right atrium - hollow. From the right and left ventricles, the pulmonary artery and the ascending aorta exit, respectively. The right atrium and left ventricle close a large circle of circulation, the left atrium and the right ventricle - a small circle.

The inner surface of the heart chambers and valves is lined with a layer of so-called endothelial cells - the endocardium. In subendocardial tissue fibroblasts, collagen and elastic fibers, nerves, veins, elements of the conducting system are contained. This tissue continues myocardium - the most dense muscle layer, consisting of cells of the heart muscle. Note that outside the myocardium there is a layer of fat and connective tissue that covers the nerves that pass to the muscle layer of the heart, and large cardiac vessels.

The structure of the heart is a very interesting and important moment in the human anatomy. Only having comprehended to the end all nuances of this question, it is possible to understand how our organism is arranged and how human life is maintained.