EXSS 276 Cardiovascular Exam Questions
And Answers 2025 Update.
Fluids of the Body - Answer✔Cells of the body are serviced by two fluids
1. Blood - Transporter
- composed of plasma and variety of cells
- transports nutrients and wastes
2. Interstitial fluid
- bathes the cells of the body
- surrounds blood vessels and cells in the body
Nutrients and oxygen diffuse from the blood to the interstitial fluid and then into cells; wastes
move in the reverse direction
What is blood? - Answer✔classified as a tissue of the body - It is a fully moveable tissue since It
circulates throughout the vascular bed
What are the physiological roles of blood? - Answer✔1. gas transport - O2 and CO2
2. nutrient transport - glucose, fats, proteins
3. waste removal transport - CO2, urea, lactic acid (free H+ ions)
4. temperature regulation - dilate capillaries, warm up the body or cool It down
5. infection - immunological defense - WBC
6. protection from disease and fluid loss - platelets/thrombocytes
Physical Characteristics of Blood - Answer✔Thicker (more viscous) than water and flows more
slowly than water
8% of total body weight
Blood volume
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- 5-6L in males is average
- 4-5L in females is average
--hormonal negative feedback systems maintain constant blood volume and pressure
Components of Blood (after centrifuge) - Answer✔Plasma 55% - top
Buffy coat, composed of WBC and platelets
RBC 45% - bottom
Blood Plasma - 55% - Answer✔Over 90% water
7% plasma proteins
- created in liver; made in liver, found in plasma
- confined to bloodstream
1. albumin 54%
- maintain blood osmotic pressure
2. globulins (immunoglobulins) 38%
- antibodies bind to foreign substances called antigens
- form antigen-antibody complexes
3. Fibrinogen 7%
- involved in clotting
- strings of proteins
2% other substances **
- electrolytes, nutrients, hormones, gases, waste products
Formed Elements - Answer✔Erythrocytes = RBC; concave disc, flexible, more surface area for
gases
Platelet = stringy projections, smaller than RBC/WBC
Leukocyte = WBC; fuzzy ball; round not smooth on outside
Erythrocytes (RBC) - Answer✔Normal RBC count
- male 5.4 million per drop = males have more bc they have higher testosterone levels
- female 4.8 million per drop
- new RBCs enter circulation at 2 million per second
RBC are made in a process called "Erythropoiesis"
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RBC or Erythrocytes - Answer✔Unique properties for carrying gases
- contain oxygen-carrying protein hemoglobin, gives blood its red color
- 1/3 of cells weight is hemoglobin
Bioconcave Disk
- increased surface area/volume ratio
- flexible shape for narrow passages
- no nucleus or other organelles
--no cell division or mitochondrial ATP formation
Hemoglobin - Answer✔-each hemoglobin molecule can carry 4 oxygen molecules from the
lungs to tissue cells at binding sites
- hemoglobin transports 23% of total CO2 waste from tissues to lungs for release
- carbon monoxide takes the binding sites so O2 cannot bind - thats why you can die
RBC cycle - Answer✔- normal blood oxygen levels
- stimulus: hypoxia (low O2 in blood) due to decreased RBC count, decreased availability of O to
blood or increased tissue demands for O2
- reduced O2 levels in blood
- kidney releases erythropoietin - It stimulates red bone marrow so more RBC that increase O2
carrying ability of blood to get to normal blood oxygen levels
RBC life cycle - Answer✔RBC only live 120 days
- wear out from bending to fit through capillaries
- no repair possible due to lack of organelles
Worn our cells removed by macrophages in spleen and liver
Breakdown products are recycled
Hemoglobin Degredation and Recycling of Products - RBC Cycle - Answer✔1. RBC death and
phagocytosis
- Globin = used as proteins
- Heme - Biliverdin - Bilirubin = get rid of bilirubin through feces and urine
- Heme - Fe3+ - Fe3+ reused back to BC through bone marrow
Blood Doping - Answer✔Injecting previously stored RBC's before an athletic event
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