My watch list

Pulmonary circulation

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

Safe Weighing Range Ensures Accurate Results

How to ensure accurate weighing results every day?

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.

References

^ Chairman's Reflections (2004), "Traditional Medicine Among Gulf Arabs, Part II: Blood-letting", Heart Views 5 (2), p. 74-85 [80].

v • d • e Cardiovascular system
Blood \| Heart → Aorta → Arteries → Arterioles → Capillaries → Venules → Veins → Vena cava → Heart → Pulmonary arteries → Lungs → Pulmonary vein

v • d • e List of arteries of head and neck
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)
Posterior and ascending: CC/EC	occipital - posterior auricular (stylomastoid) - ascending pharyngeal (meningeal branches)
Terminal, superficial temporal: CC/EC	transverse facial - middle temporal (zygomaticoörbital) - anterior auricular - frontal - parietal
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
portions #1 and 2: CC/IC	cervical portion (carotid sinus) - petrous portion (Vidian, caroticotympanic)
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
cerebral portion: CC/IC	ACA - anterior communicating - MCA (anterolateral central) - posterior communicating - anterior choroidal - circle of Willis
vertebral artery: SC	meningeal branches - posterior spinal - anterior spinal - PICA - basilar (pontine, labyrinthine, AICA, SCA, PCA)
thyrocervical trunk: SC	inferior thyroid (inferior laryngeal, tracheal, esophageal, ascending cervical) - suprascapular - transverse cervical - dorsal scapular

v • d • e List of arteries of upper limbs
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
Brachial	profunda brachii (radial collateral, medial collateral) - superior ulnar collateral - inferior ulnar collateral
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)
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

v • d • e List of arteries of torso - chest
Pulmonary / coronary	right coronary: SA nodal - AV nodal - atrial - right marginal - posterior interventricular left coronary: anterior interventricular - left circumflex - left marginal
Ascending aorta	aortic arch - brachiocephalic (thyreoidea ima) - common carotid
Subclavian	internal thoracic: anterior intercostal - thymic - pericardiacophrenic - terminal (musculophrenic, superior epigastric) costocervical trunk: highest intercostal (posterior intercostal 1-2) - deep cervical
Descending / thoracic aorta	visceral: bronchial - esophageal - mediastinal parietal: posterior intercostal 3-11 - subcostal - superior phrenic

v • d • e

List of arteries of torso - abdomen

AA:
Anterior

celiac	left gastric: esophageal branches splenic: pancreatic branches (greater, dorsal) – short gastric – left gastro-omental common hepatic: proper hepatic (cystic), right gastric, gastroduodenal (right gastro-omental, superior pancreaticoduodenal, supraduodenal)
SMA	inferior pancreaticoduodenal – intestinal (jejunal, ileal, arcades, vasa recta) – ileocolic (colic, anterior cecal, posterior cecal, ileal branch, appendicular) – right colic – middle colic
IMA	left colic – sigmoid – superior rectal – marginal

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)

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 ♀

IIA:
Posterior

iliolumbar (lumbar, iliac) – lateral sacral – superior gluteal

EIA

inferior epigastric (cremasteric, round ligament) – deep circumflex iliac – femoral

v • d • e List of arteries of lower limbs
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
Popliteal	anterior tibial - sural genicular: superior genicular (medial, lateral) - middle genicular - inferior genicular (medial, lateral)
Anterior tibial	dorsalis pedis: tarsal (lateral - medial) - arcuate - dorsal metatarsal/first dorsal metatarsal - deep plantar tibial recurrent (posterior, anterior) anterior malleolar (medial, lateral)
Posterior tibial	circumflex fibular - fibular medial plantar - lateral plantar (plantar arch, plantar metatarsal)

v • d • e Respiratory system, physiology: respiratory physiology
Volumes	lung volumes - vital capacity - functional residual capacity - respiratory minute volume - closing capacity - dead space - spirometry - body plethysmography - peak flow meter - thoracic independent volume - bronchial challenge test
Airways	ventilation (V) (positive pressure) - breath (inhalation, exhalation) -respiratory rate - respirometer - pulmonary surfactant - compliance - hysteresivity - airway resistance
Blood	pulmonary circulation - perfusion (Q) - hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction - pulmonary shunt
Interactions	ventilation/perfusion ratio (V/Q) and scan - zones of the lung - gas exchange - pulmonary gas pressures - alveolar gas equation - hemoglobin - oxygen-haemoglobin dissociation curve (2,3-DPG, Bohr effect, Haldane effect) - carbonic anhydrase (chloride shift) - oxyhemoglobin - respiratory quotient - arterial blood gas - diffusion capacity - Dlco
Control of respiration	pons (pneumotaxic center, apneustic center) - medulla (dorsal respiratory group, ventral respiratory group) - chemoreceptors (central, peripheral) - pulmonary stretch receptors (Hering-Breuer reflex)
Insufficiency	high altitude - oxygen toxicity - hypoxia

Categories: Respiratory therapy | Cardiovascular system

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Pulmonary_circulation". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.

Topics A-Z

All topics