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.