Video Transcript
Fill in the blank. In the systemic circulatory system,
the blood being transported from the heart to the body is blank. (A) Oxygenated, (B)
deoxygenated.
To answer this question, let’s
first review the main circulatory pathways. In the pulmonary pathway, blood is
transported between the heart and the lungs. In the systemic pathway, blood is
transported between the heart and the rest of the body. In the hepatic portal pathway,
blood is transported from the digestive system to the liver for detoxification
before being returned to the heart. The question is asking us about the
systemic circulatory pathway. So let’s turn our focus to that to
find the correct answer.
The systemic pathway begins when
blood that has been enriched with oxygen in the lungs arrives at the left
atrium. The atrial muscles contract,
pushing the blood into the left ventricle. The muscles of the left ventricle
then contract, pulling the bicuspid valve into a closed position and pumping blood
out through the aorta. The aorta is the largest blood
vessel in the body, although it is not shown to scale in the diagram. It is the main artery that carries
blood away from the heart to the other organs and tissues of the body. And this part of the pathway is
exactly what the question is asking us about.
So we have shown that in the
systemic pathway, blood being transported from the heart to the body is rich in
oxygen, or oxygenated. Therefore, the correct statement is
in the systemic circulatory system, the blood being transported from the heart to
the body is oxygenated.
