The circulatory system is an organ system that permits blood and lymph circulation to

transport nutrients (such as amino acids and electrolytes), oxygen, carbon

dioxide, hormones, blood cells, etc. to and from cells in the body to nourish it and help to
fight diseases, stabilize body temperature and pH, and to maintain homeostasis.

This system is often seen as strictly as a blood distribution network, but some consider the
circulatory system to be composed collectively of the cardiovascular system, which
distributes blood, and the lymphatic system, which circulates lymph. Blood is a fluid
consisting of plasma, red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets that is circulated by
the heart through the vertebrate vascular system, carrying oxygen and nutrients to and waste
materials away from all body tissues. Lymph is essentially recycled excess blood plasma
after it has been filtered from the interstitial fluid (between cells) and returned to the
lymphatic system. The cardiovascular (from Latin words meaning 'heart'-'vessel') system
comprises the blood, heart, and blood vessels. The lymph, lymph nodes, and lymph vessels
form the lymphatic system, which returns filtered blood plasma from the interstitial fluid
(between cells) as lymph.

While humans, as well as other vertebrates, have a closed cardiovascular system (meaning
that the blood never leaves the network of arteries, veins and capillaries),
some invertebrate groups have an open cardiovascular system. The lymphatic system, on
the other hand, is an open system providing an accessory route for excess interstitial fluid to
get returned to the blood. The more primitive, diploblastic animal phyla lack circulatory
systems.

The essential components of the human cardiovascular system are the heart, blood,
and blood vessels. It includes: the pulmonary circulation, a "loop" through the lungs where
blood is oxygenated; and the systemic circulation, a "loop" through the rest of the body to
provide oxygenated blood. An average adult contains five to six quarts (roughly 4.7 to 5.7
liters) of blood, accounting for approximately 7% of their total body weight. Blood consists
of plasma, red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Also, the digestive system works
with the circulatory system to provide the nutrients the system needs to keep
the heart pumping.

Closed cardiovascular system

The cardiovascular systems of humans are closed, meaning that the blood never leaves the
network of blood vessels. In contrast, oxygen and nutrients diffuse across the blood vessel
layers and enter interstitial fluid, which carries oxygen and nutrients to the target cells, and
carbon dioxide and wastes in the opposite direction. The other component of the circulatory
system, the lymphatic system, is not closed.

Heart
The heart pumps oxygenated blood to the body and deoxygenated blood to the lungs. In the
human heart there is one atrium and one ventricle for each circulation, and with both a
systemic and a pulmonary circulation there are four chambers in total: left atrium, left
ventricle, right atrium and right ventricle. The right atrium is the upper chamber of the right
side of the heart. The blood that is returned to the right atrium is deoxygenated (poor in
oxygen) and passed into the right ventricle to be pumped through the pulmonary artery to the
lungs for re-oxygenation and removal of carbon dioxide. The left atrium receives newly
oxygenated blood from the lungs as well as the pulmonary vein which is passed into the
strong left ventricle to be pumped through the aorta to the different organs of the body.

Coronary circulation
Coronary circulatory system provides a blood supply to the myocardium (the heart muscle). It
arises from the aorta by two coronary arteries, the left and the right, and after nourishing the
myocardium blood returns through the coronary veins into the coronary sinus and from this
one into the right atrium. Back flow of blood through its opening during atrial systole is
prevented by the The besian valve. The smallest cardiac veins drain directly into the heart
chambers.

Pulmonary circulation

The pulmonary circulatory system is the portion of the cardiovascular system in

which oxygen-depleted blood is pumped away from the heart, via the pulmonary artery, to
the lungs and returned, oxygenated, to the heart via the pulmonary vein.

Oxygen deprived blood from the superior and inferior vena cava, enters the right atrium of
the heart and flows through the tricuspid valve (right atrioventricular valve) into the right
ventricle, from which it is then pumped through the pulmonary semilunar valve into the
pulmonary artery to the lungs. Gas exchange occurs in the lungs, whereby CO2 is released
from the blood, and oxygen is absorbed. The pulmonary vein returns the now oxygen-rich
blood to the left atrium.

Systemic circulation
Systemic circulation is the circulation of the blood to all parts of the body except the lungs.
Systemic circulation is the portion of the cardiovascular system which transports oxygenated
blood away from the heart through the aorta from the left ventricle where the blood has been
previously deposited from pulmonary circulation, to the rest of the body, and returns oxygen-
depleted blood back to the heart. Systemic circulation is, distance-wise, much longer than
pulmonary circulation, transporting blood to every part of the body.

Oxygen transportation
About 98.5% of the oxygen in a sample of arterial blood in a healthy human breathing air at
sea-level pressure is chemically combined with hemoglobin molecules. About 1.5% is
physically dissolved in the other blood liquids and not connected to hemoglobin. The
hemoglobin molecule is the primary transporter of oxygen in mammals and many other
species.

Development
The development of the circulatory system initially occurs by the process of vasculogenesis.
The human arterial and venous systems develop from different embryonic areas. While the
arterial system develops mainly from the aortic arches, the venous system arises from three
bilateral veins during weeks 4 – 8 of human development.

The circulatory systems of all vertebrates, as well as of annelids (for example, earthworms)
and cephalopods (squids, octopuses and relatives) are closed, just as in humans. Still, the
systems of fish, amphibians, reptiles, and birds show various stages of the evolution of the
circulatory system.

In fish, the system has only one circuit, with the blood being pumped through the capillaries
of the gills and on to the capillaries of the body tissues. This is known as single
cycle circulation. The heart of fish is, therefore, only a single pump (consisting of two
chambers).

In amphibians and most reptiles, a double circulatory system is used, but the heart is not
always completely separated into two pumps. Amphibians have a three-chambered heart.

In reptiles, the ventricular septum of the heart is incomplete and the pulmonary artery is
equipped with a sphincter muscle. This allows a second possible route of blood flow. Instead
of blood flowing through the pulmonary artery to the lungs, the sphincter may be contracted
to divert this blood flow through the incomplete ventricular septum into the left ventricle and
out through the aorta. This means the blood flows from the capillaries to the heart and back
to the capillaries instead of to the lungs. This process is useful to ectothermic (cold-blooded)
animals in the regulation of their body temperature.

Birds and mammals show complete separation of the heart into two pumps, for a total of four
heart chambers; it is thought] that the four-chambered heart of birds evolved independently
from that of mammals.

Open circulatory system

The open circulatory system is a system in which a fluid in a cavity called the hemocoel
bathes the organs directly with oxygen and nutrients and there is no distinction
between blood and interstitial fluid; this combined fluid is called hemolymph or
haemolymph. Muscular movements by the animal during locomotion can facilitate
hemolymph movement, but diverting flow from one area to another is limited. When
the heart relaxes, blood is drawn back toward the heart through open-ended pores (ostia).

Hemolymph fills all of the interior hemocoel of the body and surrounds all cells. Hemolymph
is composed of water, inorganic salts (mostly Na+, Cl-, K+, Mg2+, and Ca2+), and organic
compounds (mostly carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids). The primary oxygen transporter
molecule is hemocyanin.

There are free-floating cells, the hemocytes, within the hemolymph. They play a role in the
arthropod immune system.