Heart Chamber.
Considering its function, the heart needs to have a structure or anatomy which allows for transporting oxygenated blood with nutrition to various parts of the body, in order that the various tissues, down to the minute body cells, get their requirement to perform their own functions.
At the same time, the impurities and carbon dioxide gas that collect as a result of the activity of these body tissues and body cells have to transported to be got rid off through the skin, the kidneys and the lungs.
The heart has the structure best suited to facilitate its function. It is made of chambers and valves which are both four in number and which allow for movement of blood within the heart in such a fashion so as to allow for the heart to perform its function to perfection. The four heart chambers and their valves are described here.
Four Chambers of the Heart.
The heart and its pumping chambers function in a coordinated manner to allow for blood flow in order that the heart maintains its function. The heart is divided into two halves, the left and the right half, by a muscular wall of connective tissue called the septum.:-
- The left side of the heart which is also referred to as the left heart, and
- The right side of the heart which is also referred to as the right heart.
Each half of the heart is again divided into two chambers : the upper chamber and the lower chamber. We therefore have two upper chambers and two lower chambers. The two upper chambers are called atria (plural for atrium) and two lower chambers called the ventricles.
Each chamber of the human heart holds about 70 ml of blood. The upper chambers are the receiving chambers of the heart while the lower chambers are heart pumping chambers which pump blood out of the heart. The heart chambers and their function are described below.
Heart chambers diagram.
Left Atrium.
The left atrium is the upper heart chamber in the left half of the heart. The left atrium receives oxygenated blood from the lungs which is brought by the pulmonary veins (usually four, two from each lung). The left atrium receives this blood by relaxation of its muscles. Once full, this chamber of the heart contracts and pushes the oxygenated blood into the left ventricle through the one-way non return bicuspid valve which is situated between the left atrium and the left ventricle.
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