Front or Ventral Side of the Heart
1. Locate the following chambers of the heart from this surface:
Left atria - upper chamber to your right
Left ventricle - lower chamber to your right
Right atria - upper chamber to your left
Right ventricle - lower chamber to your left
2. While the heart is still in this position in the dissecting pan, locate these blood vessels at the broad end of the heart:
Coronary artery - this blood vessel lies in the groove on the front of the heart & it branches over the front & the back side of the heart to supply fresh blood with oxygen & nutrients to the heart muscle itself.
Pulmonary artery - this blood vessel branches & carries blood to the lungs to receive oxygen & can be found curving out of the right ventricle (upper chamber to your left)
Aorta - major vessel located near the right atria & just behind the pulmonary arteries to the lungs. Locate the curved part of this vessel known as the aorticarch. Branching from the aortic arch is a large artery that supplies blood to the upper body.
Pulmonary veins - these vessels return oxygenated blood from the right & left lungs to the left atrium (upper chamber on your right)
Inferior & Superior Vena Cava - these two blood vessels are located on your left of the heart and connect to the right atrium (upper chamber on your left). Deoxygenated blood enters the body through these vessels into the right receiving chamber. Use your probe to feel down into the right atrium. These vessels do not contain valves to control blood flow.
Procedure - Internal Anatomy
1. Use scissors to cut through the side of the pulmonary artery and continue cutting down into the wall of the right ventricle. Be careful to just cut deep enough to go through the wall of the heart chamber. (Your cutting line should be above & parallel to the groove of the coronary artery.)
2. With your fingers, push open the heart at the cut to examine the internal structure. If there is dried blood inside the chambers, rinse out the heart.
3. Locate the right atrium. Notice the thinner muscular wall of this receiving chamber.
4. Find where the inferior & superior vena cava enter this chamber & notice the lack of valves.
5. Locate the valve that between the right atrium and right ventricle. This is called the tricuspid valve. This valve allows blood flow from the right atrium into the right ventricle during diastole (period when the heart is relaxed). When the heart begins to contract (systole phase), ventricular pressure increases until it is greater than the pressure in the