Cardiovascular System

What this unit covers

The resources split into two broad strands: how the heart and vessels develop, and how their tissues are built. Embryology material includes the flashcard deck on heart embryology and morphogenesis, which asks what structures such as the truncus arteriosus and bulbus cordis give rise to. The quiz CVS Embryology starts from the idea that the cardiovascular system is the first to function in the embryo.

Histology material covers the layers of the heart wall, the tunics of vessels and the difference between macrovasculature and microvasculature.

Where to start

1. Open the mind map Histology of Heart and Blood Vessels. It sets out the tunica adventitia, tunica media and tunica intima, with notes on support, smooth muscle tone and blood pressure.
2. Move to the flashcard deck Cardiovascular system, which asks you to name the layers of the heart wall.
3. For development, read the mind map Heart, which follows progenitor heart cells through the primitive streak to the horseshoe-shaped primary heart field.
4. Then try the deck Cardiovascular System- Embryology for the primitive heart tube dilatations and the aorticopulmonary septum.

Using quizzes and maps together

Read a map first, then test yourself. After the histology map, try the quiz Cardiovascular, which uses fill-in-the-blank prompts on vessel types. After the heart development maps, take CVS Embryology and note which answers surprised you. Go back to the map for those branches only.

There are also separate quizzes on vascular histology, split into two parts, and shorter sets on septation of the heart, so you can narrow down a single topic.

Where it fits

This unit sits in the Circulatory and Immune Systems strand of Histology and embryology. Teachers can use the community-made sets as ready-made starting points for a class.

Next step

Choose one map or deck from the list, work through it, then make your own version in your own words.