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 internal state and on his appearance. The heart is a continuously working living motor that pumps a huge amount 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 precisely and clearly, experiencing incredibly large congestion. Throughout a person’s life, the heart continuously works, which actually supports this life.
Constant sports or physical activity make the heart 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 gets tired from work and cannot surpass all the blood entering the cavity, congestive expansion of the heart and heart failure may develop . To better understand all these processes, you should delve into such a thing as “heart structure”.
The external structure of the heart
As a rule, with the word “heart” a person imagines a small scarlet heart pierced by the arrow of the Amur. However, does it really look like that? Of course not.
The heart shape is a cone flattened in the anteroposterior direction. The structure of the heart involves distinguishing the base and the apex. The base is the extended part, which is directed to the right, up and slightly back, the apex is the lower pointed part, respectively, directed to the left, down and slightly forward.
On the very surface of this organ, you can find a lot of different protrusions and grooves that form blood vessels. The largest of them have their own names. This, for example, is a coronal groove that runs across the cardiac axis and is an external indicator of the distinction between the ventricles and atria. In addition, on the surface of the heart there is anterior and posterior interventricular grooves - external indicators of the boundaries of the ventricles. Here also lie the heart vessels. In addition, on the surface of the heart there are two outgrowths - the ears of the atria.
The internal structure of the heart
Inside, the heart looks more complicated. The first thing you should pay attention to when studying the structure of the heart is that there are four valves that provide blood flow forward and prevent its reverse flow. Tricuspid and mitral atrioventricular valves separate the ventricles from the atria, pulmonary and aortic lunar valves - the ventricles from the large arteries. All of them are attached to the fibrous skeleton of the heart. The heart core consists of very thick connective tissue, which is the support for the muscles and valves.
In general, when 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 pulmonary veins enter the left atrium , and the hollow veins enter the right. From the right and left ventricles exit the pulmonary artery and ascending aorta, respectively. The right atrium and the left ventricle close the great circle of blood circulation, the left atrium and the right ventricle - the small circle.
The inner surface of the heart chambers and valves is lined with a layer of so-called endothelial cells - the endocardium. The subendocardial tissue contains fibroblasts, collagen and elastic fibers, nerves, veins, and elements of the conductive system. This tissue continues with the myocardium - the densest muscle layer, consisting of cells of the heart muscle. Note that outside the myocardium there is a layer of adipose and connective tissue, which covers the nerves passing to the muscle layer of the heart, and large cardiac vessels.
The structure of the heart is a very interesting and important point in human anatomy. Only after fully comprehending all the nuances of this issue, we can understand how our body is structured and how human life is supported.