The Cardiovascular Circulatory System (^347)
LABORATORY
The Cardiovascular System continued
(^)
EXERCISE: (^)
ventricle, you will see the left atrium. The
valve between the two is the bicuspid or mi-
tral valve. It does not matter which half of
your cut you are viewing because they are
mirror images of one another. The ventricle
with the thin outermost wall will be the right
ventricle. Above the right ventricle is the right
atrium and the valve between them will be the
tricuspid valve.^
- Examine valve anatomy. Note how the chor-
dae tendineae pull the cusps down into the
ventricle and attach to the papillary muscles
in the ventricles. Note the irregular folds in
the ventricles, which are the trabeculae car-
neae. Force open the ventricular chamber.
Note the space in the left ventricle is smaller
than the space in the right ventricle be-cause
there is so much more myocardium in the
walls of the left ventricle. Less space equals
more muscle, equals more pressure to pump
the blood through the thousands of miles of
blood vessels. Note the thin walls of the atria.- If possible try to identify some of the great
vessels entering and leaving the heart. This
may be difficult and will depend on how you
cut your heart. Your instructor may have a
preserved pig’s heart on demonstra-tion with
all parts labeled. These are avail-able from
biologic supply houses.