In humans, other mammals, and birds, the heart is divided into four chambers: upper left and right atria and lower left and right ventricles. In humans, the heart is approximately the size of a closed fist and is located between the lungs, in the middle compartment of the chest. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide to the lungs. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system.
The outer layer of the pericardium surrounds the roots of the heart's major blood vessels, and the inner layer is attached to the heart muscle.The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. A sac known as the pericardium surrounds the heart. The coronary arteries run along the surface of the heart and provide oxygen-rich blood to the heart muscle.Ī web of nerve tissue also runs through the heart, conducting the complex signals that govern contraction and relaxation. The left ventricle pumps oxygen-rich blood through the aortic valve to the aorta and the rest of the body. The left atrium receives oxygenated blood from the lungs and pumps it through the mitral valve to the left ventricle. The right ventricle pumps the blood through the pulmonary valve to the lungs, where it becomes oxygenated. The right atrium receives non-oxygenated blood from the body's largest veins - superior vena cava and inferior vena cava - and pumps it through the tricuspid valve to the right ventricle. It is also made up of four valves: the tricuspid, pulmonary, mitral and aortic valves. MORE FROM MICHIGAN: Sign up for our weekly newsletter The heart is made up of four chambers: two upper chambers known as the left atrium and right atrium and two lower chambers called the left and right ventricles. Blood is returned to the heart through venules and veins. It pushes blood to the body's organs, tissues and cells.īlood delivers oxygen and nutrients to every cell and removes the carbon dioxide and other waste products made by those cells.īlood is carried from the heart to the rest of the body through a complex network of arteries, arterioles and capillaries. Located between the lungs in the middle of the chest, the heart pumps blood through the network of arteries and veins known as the cardiovascular system. In fact, the heart does more physical work than any other muscle over a lifetime. LISTEN UP: Add the new Michigan Medicine News Break to your Alexa-enabled device, or subscribe to our daily audio updates on iTunes, Google Play and Stitcher. That's a lot of work for an organ no bigger than a large fist and weighing 8 to 12 ounces. This story was updated on January 31, 2020.Įach day, the average human heart beats about 100,000 times, pumping 2,000 gallons of blood through the body. Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.Institute for Healthcare Policy & Innovation.Elizabeth Weiser Caswell Diabetes Institute.
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