Sheep Heart Dissection Lab Questions

1. What is the purpose of the pericardium?
   It is the thin layer of skin which encloses the heart. It protects the heart.
2. How do arteries differ from veins in their structure?
   Arteries have thicker walls than veins.
3. What function do you think the auricle serves?
   They increase blood capacity and volume of the blood in the atrium.
4. What differences do you observe between atria and ventricles?
   Ventricles have thicker walls and take up a larger space in the heart than the atria.
5. Why is the “anchoring” of the heart valves by the chordae tendineae and the papillary muscle important to heart function?
   It makes sure there is no inversion of blood and prolapse of these valves on systole.
6. Using pictures describe what you see (chordae tendineae and papillary muscle)
   
7. What is the function of the semilunar valve?
   It stops any arterial blood from re-entering the heart.
8. a)If the valve disease occurs on the right side of the heart, it results in swelling in the feet and ankles. Why might this happen?
   The ventricles are not strong enough to pump blood back against gravity from your feet to the rest of your body.
   b) If the valve disease occurs on the left side of the heart, what complications would you expect to see?
   Not enough blood being pumped throughout the rest of the body.
9. Using pictures describe what you see.
   
10. Describe how the left and right sides of the heart differ from each other.
    The right side of the heart is deoxygenated blood while the left side has oxygenated blood.
11. Draw and label all structure visible in the interior of the cross-section.

Unit 3 Reflection

This unit was about the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. The cardiovascular system works to pump blood and nutrients throughout our body. The blood's main organs and accessory organs include the heart, the lungs, the kidneys, the small intestine, and the large intestine. The heart is the main organ which pumps blood through the rest of the body through the use of vessels (veins, arteries, and capillaries). Cardiovascular health is avoiding heart attacks, strokes, or other heart diseases. Heart disease and stroke can be caused by high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, unhealthy diet, alcohol consumption, diabetes, obesity, lack of exercise, stress, or genetic history, among other factors. Heart disease and stroke can be prevented by controlling blood pressure, controlling cholesterol, stopping smoking (or not smoking in the first place), eating a healthy diet, moderating alcohol consumption, controlling diabetes, controlling weight, exercising, and managing stress. I would like to learn more about strokes as my grandaunt just experienced one this weekend. I would like to know how to take care of those who go through this experience and I would like to learn of more warning signs for it. I think my strengths were understanding the functions of different parts of the circulatory and respiratory systems. One of my weaknesses was not being able to remember the different veins and arteries which entered and exited the heart. I'm slightly following my Unit 2 health goals as I'm eating better but I'm not following my goals as I'm not sleeping as much as I should. For the remainder of the semester, I wish to do better on tests, and I wish that I get more sleep.

Pictures from sheep heart dissection: