The Complexity of Human Organs-Heart

The Complexity of Human Organs-Heart

The structure of the human body consists of organs that collaborate to perform specific functions and maintain homeostasis. The heart is an important organ in the human body. This essay will discuss the location and shape of the heart in the body. It will further define the heart’s function, cardiovascular system, and role of the heart in homeostasis. In addition, it will describe the cells and tissues in the heart and how the cells and tissues collaborate to perform their function. Finally, it will discuss how homeostasis will be affected if the heart is made of different tissues.

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Shape and Location

The heart is located in the mediation, medially between the lungs and within the thoracic cavity. It is separated from other structures within the mediastinum by the pericardium, which sits in the pericardial cavity (Rodriguez & Tan, 2017). The dorsal surface of the heart lies near the vertebrae bodies, while the heart’s anterior surface is located deep in the costal cartilage and the sternum (Mader & Windelspecht, 2017). The heart’s base is located at the third costal cartilage, while the heart’s apex and the inferior tip are found at the left of the sternum (Mader & Windelspecht, 2017). The right side of the heart is deflected anteriorly, while the left side is deflected posteriorly (Mader & Windelspecht, 2017). Its shape is similar to a pinecone. It is broad, tapering to the apex and broad at the superior surface (Mader & Windelspecht, 2017). It is the size of a fist, five inches in length, 3.5 inches wide, and 2.5 inches thick (Mader & Windelspecht, 2017). It weighs around 250-350 grams, depending on the sex (Mader & Windelspecht, 2017).

Importance of the Heart

It is the most significant organ of the cardiovascular system. Its primary role is pumping blood throughout the body and nutrients’ delivery. It supplies nutrients and oxygen to tissues and removal wastes and carbon dioxide from the body (Mader & Windelspecht, 2017). In addition, it helps to maintain optimum blood pressure throughout the body. The heart is the main part of the cardiovascular system. This system contains the heart and blood vessels. The main role of this system is to supply nutrients, hormones, and nutrients to the tissues, muscles, and organs throughout the body (Mader & Windelspecht, 2017). It also removes waste materials from the body.

Exercises enhance the production of waste products such as lactic acid and carbon dioxide. The heart maintains homeostasis by increasing the heart rate during exercise (Mader & Windelspecht, 2017). This leads to increased delivery of nutrients and oxygen and removal of waste products from the musculoskeletal system. The enhanced heart rate speeds up the nutrients and oxygen delivery to the tissues and delivers blood from the tissues to the lungs for oxygenation (Mader & Windelspecht, 2017).

Type of Tissue

The cardiac muscle tissue forms the bulk of the heart. Their main function is to perform involuntarily coordinated heart contractions that allow the heart to pump blood throughout the body (Mader & Windelspecht, 2017). The other tissues present in the heart are nervous, epithelial, and connective tissue.

Cell Types

The four major cell types of the human heart are smooth muscle cells, endothelial cells, cardiac fibroblasts, and cardiomyocytes. The function of the cardiac fibroblasts is to produce and secrete signaling molecules such as cytokines and growth factors (Litviňuková et al., 2020). The cardiomyocytes for the general contractile force of the human heart. Specialized cardiomyocytes control the heart’s rhythmic beating (Litviňuková et al., 2020). The endothelial cells secrete chemicals that control the contraction and relaxation of vascular muscles and enzymes that modulate the adhesion of platelets and blood clotting (Litviňuková et al., 2020).

Tissue Function

Cardiac muscles are well organized and contain different cell types, such as cardiomyocytes, smooth muscle cells, and fibroblasts. They only exist in the heart and contain cardiac muscle cells that execute highly coordinated functions that ensure the heart performs its key roles. Cardiac muscle tissues produce involuntary movements, unlike skeletal muscle tissue (Mader & Windelspecht, 2017). In addition, the heart contains pacemaker cells in specialized tissues, which expand and contract in response to electric signals from the nervous system (Mader & Windelspecht, 2017). The pacemaker cells generate action potentials, which signal cardiac muscle cells to contract and relax. In short, they control the heart rate.

What Might Happen if the Heart Was Made of a Different Tissue Type

If the heart were made of skeletal muscle tissues, we would not pump blood effectively throughout the body. Skeletal muscle tissues are voluntary. This means that if we passed out, we would not supply blood to critical tissues such as the brain. This will lead to brain damage and then death. If the heart were made of skeletal muscle tissues, homeostasis would be significantly affected unless we invented other mechanisms to pump the heart.

Conclusion

The heart is a critical organ of the circulatory system. Its main role is to transport nutrients, oxygen, and hormones throughout the body. It also removes waste metabolic products from the body. It is located in the thoracic cavity. It contains specialized cells such as smooth muscle cells, endothelial cells, cardiac fibroblasts, and cardiomyocytes, which collaborate to perform the functions of the heart.

References

Litviňuková, M., Talavera-López, C., Maatz, H., Reichart, D., Worth, C. L., Lindberg, E. L., … & Teichmann, S. A. (2020). Cells of the adult human heart. Nature, 588(7838), 466-472. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2797-4

Mader, S., & Windelspecht, M. (2017). Human biology (15th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education

Rodriguez, E. R., & Tan, C. D. (2017). Structure and anatomy of the human pericardium. Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, 59(4), 327-340. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pcad.2016.12.010

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The Complexity of Human Organs

Over the last two units, you have learned about the structure of the human body, from cells to tissues to organs and organ systems. An organ is a structure composed of two or more tissues that work together to perform a specific function. Each organ has a function vital to maintaining your body in homeostatic balance. In this assignment, you will each be assigned a specific organ to research based on the first letter of your last name. You will then evaluate the organ’s structure and complexity and how this structure is related to the organ’s functions. Your APA-formatted essay should:

The Complexity of Human Organs-Heart

Provide an introduction that describes the scope (goal) of the assignment and identifies the assigned organ.
Describe your assigned organ, including the general shape of the organ the location of this organ, and identify what organ system it belongs to in the human body.
Describe in detail the importance of the assigned organ to the function of the body as a whole.
What are the functions of the assigned organ?
Describe the major functions of the organ system that the organ belongs to.
How does the organ contribute to homeostasis?
Identify and describe which of the four tissue types (epithelial, connective, muscle, and nervous tissues) are present in the assigned organ.
Describe at least three cell types that are present in the assigned organ. Your description should address whether these cell types have any special structures (e.g., presence of microvilli and abundance of particular organelle such as mitochondria) and how they contribute to the overall function of the organ.
Explain how the tissue and cell types in the assigned organ work together to aid in the function of the organ.
Discuss what might happen if the assigned organ was made of a different tissue type and if it was made of only one type of cell. How would homeostasis be compromised if this happened?
The organ assigned to you for this essay is listed below and is based on the first letter of your last name:

First Letter of Last Name

Organ

A-D

Heart