Question 1: Form and Function
The heart is a cone-shaped muscle that is located inside the chest with a sharp-left facing end. It is made up of the pericardium which is a layer of fiber surrounding the heart. Pericardium’s main function is to protect the heart by covering and holding it in place. This pericardium is made up of two layers; the visceral layer that wraps it around it and the parietal layer which has a sac meant to hold the fluid that lubricates the heart.
The heart then has a heart wall consisting of three layers; i.e. the epicardium, myocardium, and the endocardium. The epicardium is the outermost membrane that protects the outer portion of the heart. The myocardium comprises of muscle tissues and forms the thickness of the heart. The endocardium is the smooth inner membrane that prevents blood from sticking on the heart forming harmful clots (Sedmera, 2011).
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The heart has four chambers that include the left and right atrium, together with the left and right ventricles. The atria are thinner and smaller than the ventricles and have less muscular walls and are the chambers that receive blood entering the heart (Sedmera, 2011). The ventricles have more muscular walls and are larger to push blood out into the circulation.
Question 2: Organ System Interaction
The heart also consists of blood vessels such as veins, arteries, and capillaries that aid in the circulation of blood throughout the body. Arteries convey oxygenated blood throughout the body while veins transmit deoxygenated blood back to the heart (wiseGEEK, 2017). Capillaries connect arteries to veins. The heart also has a valve that prevents backflow of blood.
The principal function of the heart is to propel blood to the pulmonary and systematic circuits. That is to pump deoxygenated blood from the left ventricle via the pulmonary artery to the lungs for oxygenation. The heart further pumps oxygenated blood through the aorta to the rest of the body through the veins and capillaries (wiseGEEK, 2017).
The heart interacts with the nervous system by means such as baroreceptors that relay information about blood pressure to the brain. The brain, in turn, controls blood pressure and heart beat. The cerebrospinal fluid flows into the venous blood supply.
References
Sedmera, D. (2011). Function and form in the developing cardiovascular system. Cardiovascular research, 91 (2), 252-259. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cvr/cvr062.
wiseGEEK. (2017). What Is the Relationship between the Nervous System and the Heart? Retrieved from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-relationship-between-the-nervous-system-and-the-heart.htm. Cleanings.
