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Left and right ventricles comprise the lower chambers of the heart. The human heart is a vital organ that is responsible for pumping blood throughout the body. With the help of the circulatory system, the heart plays an active role in supplying oxygen and nutrients to all the tissues of the human body while also removing any waste products and carbon dioxide gas. Now, the human heart is divided into four chambers which are the left and right atrium and the left and right ventricle. However, despite existing in the lower chambers, the left and right ventricles differ a lot in how they function. The left ventricle receives the blood that is rich in oxygen from the left atrium and pumps the same to the aorta, whereas on the other hand, the right ventricle receives the blood that is lacking in oxygen from the left atrium and pushes it to the pulmonary artery. In this article, we will look at the right and the left ventricle, and the differences between the two.
| Table of Content |
Key Terms: Left Ventricle, Right Ventricle, Human Heart, Atrium, Auricle, Pulmonary Valve, Blood Tissues, Blood Vessels
Human Heart
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The human heart is a vital organ in the circulatory system. The human heart is located in the space that exists between the lungs, within the thoracic cavity. The blood passes twice through the circuit of the heart. While the left pump is responsible for sending the oxygen-rich blood throughout the body, the right pump sends the blood lacking in oxygen, or the deoxygenated blood to the lungs. The lungs oxygenate this blood and pass it back to the heart. This separate flow of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood helps in improving the efficiency of our solar system while also contributing to maintaining a constant body temperature. The four chambers of the heart are as given below:
- Left Atrium: The left atrium receives blood rich in oxygen from the lungs.
- Right Atrium: It receives the blood containing carbon dioxide, as a metabolism byproduct and is lacking in oxygen.
- Left Ventricle: The left ventricle receives oxygen-rich blood from the left atrium through a bi-cuspid valve.
- Right Ventricle: It receives the deoxygenated blood that is rich in Carbon Dioxide, CO2, from the right atrium through the tricuspid valve.
Human heart
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What is Left Ventricle?
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The Left Ventricle refers to the lower left chamber of the heart. It receives oxygen-rich blood from the left atrium and then pumps it to the aorta.
- The right and left ventricles together combine to form the apex of our heart.
- It is separated from the left atrium through a mitral valve.
- However, the separation that exists between the left ventricle and aorta, which supplies blood to the rest of our human body, is known as the aortic valve.
- The thickest wall of our heart resides in the left ventricle.
- When the left ventricle enlarges and gets hard due to high and uncontrollable blood pressure, the condition is known as left ventricular hypertrophy.
- Some of the other heart diseases pertaining to the left ventricle are myocarditis, valve disease, and myocardial infarction.
Left Ventricle
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What is Right Ventricle?
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The lower right chamber of the heart is known as the right ventricle. While the left atrium transports the oxygen-rich blood to all the parts of the body through the blood vessels, the right ventricle receives oxygen-deficient blood from the right atrium.
- The right ventricle then supplies this blood to the pulmonary artery.
- The lungs receive the blood from the pulmonary artery.
- The right atrium and the right ventricle are separated via the tricuspid valve that is necessary for preventing the movement of blood back into the right atrium.
- The right ventricle and the pulmonary artery are separated by the pulmonary valve.
- The right ventricle pumps the blood to the pulmonary artery at a lower pressure as the thickness of the wall present in the right ventricle is less as compared to the left ventricle.
- The septum separates the left and right ventricles from each other.
Right Ventricle
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Similarities
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There are some similarities between the left and right ventricle of the heart which are as given below:
- The left and right ventricles both are located at the lower chambers of the heart.
- They are both formed of muscles of the heart, also known as the heart muscles.
- The left and right ventricles both are functioning to pump the blood away from the heart.
Anatomy of Human Heart
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Difference between Left and Right Ventricle?
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Despite their similarities, the left, and right ventricles differ from each other in the following ways:
| Factors | Left Ventricle | Right Ventricle |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The lower left chamber of the heart is known as the left ventricle. It pumps blood throughout the body. | The lower right chamber of the heart is known as the right ventricle. It pumps blood to the lungs. |
| Received Blood | The left ventricle receives blood rich in oxygen and nutrition from the left atrium of the human heart. | The right ventricle receives blood lacking oxygen from the right atrium. |
| Shape of the Cavity | It has a circular-shaped cavity. | Its cavity has the shape of a crescent. |
| Walls | It has a thicker wall. | It is formed of thin walls. |
| Pressure | When it is pumping blood, the left ventricle develops higher pressure. | When it is pumping blood, it has a lower pressure as compared to the left ventricle. |
| Blood Circulation | It belongs to the systemic circulation system. | It belongs to the pulmonary circulation system. |
| Function | Through the aorta, the left ventricle pumps blood to the whole body. | Through the pulmonary valve, the right ventricle pumps the deoxygenated blood to the lungs. |
| Shape of the Chamber | It forms the apex of the heart and has an oval shape. | It is located near the apex of the heart and has a triangular shape. |
| Pumping Blood | It pumps the blood into the aorta. | It pumps the blood into the pulmonary artery. |
| Diseases | Valve disease, myocarditis, left ventricular hypertrophy, and myocardial infarction can affect the left ventricle of the heart. | Double outlet right ventricle, arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia, and congestive heart failure can affect the right ventricle of the heart. |
Structure of the Ventricle?
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As compared to the atrium, the ventricles have thicker walls and thus they develop high blood pressure. The atria only fill in the ventricles while the ventricles have the greatest function of pumping blood to the lungs and throughout the body. The right and left ventricles are almost equal in size and are about 85 millimeters in adults. The upper surface of the ventricles is circular while the surface below is flattened.
- The left ventricle has thicker walls to pump blood to the whole body.
- The right ventricle has thin walls however as they only pump blood to the lungs.
- The left ventricle is conical shaped and is lengthier than the right ventricle.
- As the left ventricle pumps blood at high pressure, they are muscular and thicker than the right ventricle.
- The shape of the right ventricle is triangular as it extends to the apex of the heart from the tricuspid valve present in the right atrium.
Structure of the heart
The left and right ventricles both make up the lower chambers of the heart. They form the apex of the heart collectively. The right ventricle pumps blood in the pulmonary artery while the left ventricle pumps blood in the aorta. The left ventricle pumps blood with higher pressure than the right ventricle as they have thicker walls. Both of them are an important part of the blood circulatory system.
Things to Remember
- The human heart is divided into four chambers which are the left and right atrium and the left and right ventricle.
- The Left Ventricle refers to the lower left chamber of the heart which receives blood rich in oxygen from the left atrium and then pumps it forward to the aorta.
- The right Ventricle is the lower right chamber of the heart which receives the blood deficient in oxygen and rich in carbon dioxide from the right atrium.
- The left and right ventricles both are functioning to pump the blood away from the heart.
- As the left ventricle pumps blood at high pressure, they are muscular and thicker than the right ventricle.
- The right ventricle pumps blood in the pulmonary artery while the left ventricle pumps blood in the aorta.
Sample Questions
Ques. What are blood vessels? (3 marks)
Ans. Blood vessels make the circulation of blood possible to all other body parts.
- Arteries are usually red-colored. They are rich in oxygen as they carry the blood from the heart to the capillaries within the tissues of the body.
- Veins are usually blue in color as they carry blood that is deficient in oxygen from the capillaries in the body back to the heart.
- Capillaries refer to the vessels that are small in size and exist within the tissues. Inside the issues, the exchange of gases takes place.
Ques. Explain the cardiac cycle. (3 marks)
Ans. The heart has various valves that are formed of cardiac muscles. The cardiac cycle refers to the event sequence that takes place when the completion of a heartbeat takes place. The cardiac cycle involves the rhythmic contraction and relaxation of the muscles of the heart that takes place repeatedly.
- The contraction of the heart is called systole.
- The relaxation of the heart is known as diastole.
Ques. Describe the chambers of the heart. (3 marks)
Ans. The human heart is divided internally into four chambers that play an active role in the circulatory system.
- Auricles/Atrium
The two chambers that exist in the upper region are known as the left and right auricles. The left and right atrium are divided by a partition that is referred to as the interatrial septum.
- Ventricles
The lower chambers of the heart comprise the left and right ventricles. These two ventricles are separated by a valve known as the interventricular septum.
Ques. Describe the functioning or working of the heart. (5 marks)
Ans. The heart functions in the following manner:
- The arteries in the heart receive the oxygen-rich blood from the lungs and then supply it throughout the human body.
- The veins, on the other hand, carry the deoxygenated blood that has carbon dioxide and wastes from all the parts of the body to the heart for oxygenation purposes.
- The right atrium then receives blood from the veins and pumps it forward to the right ventricle of the heart.
- The right ventricle in turn pumps the blood that is received from the right atrium toward the lungs.
- The left atrium receives the blood rich in oxygen from the lungs and pumps it forward to the left ventricle.
- The left ventricle, at last, pumps the oxygenated or the oxygen-rich blood throughout the body.
Ques. What is double circulation? (5 marks)
Ans. Double circulation refers to the flow of blood twice from the heart, one is in an oxygenated form while the other one is deoxygenated. The two types of circulation processes are systemic circulation and pulmonary circulation.
- Systemic Circulation
Systemic circulation includes the flow of oxygen-rich blood to all the parts of the body from the left ventricle. It also includes the flow of deoxygenated blood from all other parts of the body to the right atrium of the human heart. Systemic circulation basically starts from the aorta and ends at the inferior vena cava, superior vena cava, or the coronary sinus toward the right atrium.
It provides the tissues with nutrients, oxygen, and all the other substances and in turn, it takes carbon dioxide and other harmful waste and substances away from the tissues for excretion or removal purposes.
- Pulmonary Circulation
The flow of the blood that is deficient in oxygen from the right ventricle of the heart to the lungs and in turn the flow of the oxygen-rich blood from the lungs towards the left atrium is known as the pulmonary circulation.
From each lung, two pulmonary veins transport the oxygenated blood towards the left atrium.
This double circulation process prevents the oxygenated and the deoxygenated blood from mixing with each other.
Ques. State the main differences between the left and right ventricles. (5 marks)
Ans. The differences between the left and right ventricle are as stated below:
- The lower left chamber of the heart is known as the left ventricle while the lower right chamber is known as the right ventricle.
- The left ventricle receives blood rich in oxygen from the left atrium of the human heart while the right ventricle receives the deoxygenated blood from the right atrium.
- The left ventricle is involved in the systemic circulation system while the right ventricle is involved in the pulmonary circulation system.
- The left ventricles have thicker walls and therefore they deliver blood with high pressure while the right ventricle has thin walls, therefore they deliver blood with lower pressure.
- The left ventricle pumps the blood in the aorta while the right ventricle pumps blood in the pulmonary artery.
Ques. What are the functions of the human heart? (3 marks)
Ans. The human heart performs the following functions:
- The main and primary function of the heart is that it is responsible for pumping blood throughout the body.
- The heart helps in maintaining adequate blood pressure all over the body.
- The human heart also supplies nutrients and oxygen to the tissues in the body and in turn it removes waste and carbon dioxide from the blood.
Ques. What are the three layers of the heart? (3 marks)
Ans. The three layers of the human heart are as follows:
- The endocardium is the layer that is present in the interior of the heart. It helps in protecting the heart and the valves.
- Epicardium is the protective layer that is formed of the connective tissues.
- Myocardium refers to the layer that forms the muscles of the heart.
Ques. How does the heart contribute oxygen-rich blood to the lungs and other parts of the body? (5 marks)
Ans. The blood before flowing to all the other parts of the body passes through the heart and the lungs for the re-oxygenation process. The blood is added to the blood to be transported to all the other parts of the body in the following ways:
- The low-oxygen blood from all the parts of the body is transported and is received in the right atrium. The right atrium is responsible for pumping blood to the right ventricle.
- The right ventricle then transports the deoxygenated blood to the lungs, where it is oxygenated.
- The left atrium collects blood from the lungs that are high in oxygen and pumps it to the left ventricle.
- The high-oxygen blood is then pumped to all of the body through the left ventricle.
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