Dr. D. M. Yordy   

Community College of Rhode Island

Biology 1020: Human Physiology

Learning Objectives

XI. Learning Objectives: Cardiovascular II

 

  1. You should be able to define the following terms: automaticity, myogenic, functional syncitium, pacemaker potential, AV nodal delay, slow-conducting fibers, cardiac conduction system, electrocardiogram, P wave, QRS complex, T wave, P-R interval.
  2. You should be able to describe, in general, the flow of blood through the body.
  3. You should be able to identify the factors that effect blood flow.
  4. You should be able to explain how blood vessel radius influences blood flow.
  5. You should be able to discuss the structure of arteries, arterioles, capillaries, veins, and venules, as well as how the structure of each of these vessels relates to function.
  6. You should be able to explain why the heart is considered as two pumps, a right, and a left.
  7. You should be able to identify which side receives oxygenated and which side receives deoxygenated blood.
  8. You should be able to describe the structure of cardiac muscle and how it compares to the structure of skeletal muscle.
  9. You should be able to describe the functions of intercalated discs and gap junctions in cardiac muscle.
  10. You should be able to identify, in the correct sequence, the components of the cardiac conduction system.
  11. You should be able to explain why the SA node serves as the cardiac pacemaker.
  12. You should be able to explain why the heart works as a functional syncitium.
  13. You should be able to explain why cardiac muscle cannot undergo tetanus.
  14. You should be reproduce graphs of voltage versus time for cardiac action potentials.
  15. You should be able to explain what an electrocardiogram represents.
  16. You should be able to draw and label a typical electrocardiogram.
  17. You should be able to explain what the different parts of an electrocardiogram represent.

At the end of this section you should understand the importance of the heart as a durable pump. You should be able to understand how electrical activity is initiated in, spreads throughout the heart and leads to mechanical activity (contraction). You should understand what an ECG and its component waves represent. An understanding of the mechanical and electrical activity of the heart is necessary in understanding how cardiovascular pathologies develop and ultimately effect the body as a whole.