Technology

Heart chamber is a terminology employed in referring to the four chambers of the heart. The four chambers are the right atrium, the right ventricle, left atrium and the left atrium.

The four chambers of the heart function to offer a pathway for blood. The blood is first taken to the lungs for oxygenation and then supplied to the rest of the body for life to be sustained. This transportation of blood throughout the body cannot take place without the chambers of the heart (Nin, 1959).

The right atrium
Oxygen-depleted blood is drained into this chamber from the inferior and superior vena cava. The blood is then pumped through the tricuspid valve into the right ventricle. This chamber also receives blood from the coronary sinuses. The coronary sinuses are the outlet of the coronary circulation. This chamber also affects the rate of heart beat via barroreceptors in its surface. The barroreceptors respond to decrease in the supply of blood by raising the heart beats. Low supply results in the stimulation of vagus nerve resulting in slowed heart beats (Nin, 1959).

The two atria perform an endocrine function. They perform this with the removal of atrial natriuretic pepride (ANP). This is released when the atria is stretched. ANP works to reduce heart beats, decrease pre-load, and raise urinary output, stimulating the vagus nerve and inhibiting ventricular hypertrophy (Nin, 1959).

The right ventricle
This chamber collects oxygen-depleted blood from the right atrium. The blood is then pumped through the pulmonary valve into the lungs.  It is alienated from the left ventricle by the septum. The purpose of this chamber is to pump out blood through the pulmonic valve. This blood is ejected into the pulmonary arteries.  The left ventricle pumps blood against a diastolic pressure, that is, pressure before contraction, of 80. The thickness of the walls of this chamber in a grown up is 4-5mm. This chambers myocardial blood supply is mainly from coronary artery.  This chamber is usually involved in an inferior myocardial infraction (MI) (Nin, 1959).

The left atrium
This chamber collects oxygenated blood from the lungs through the pulmonary veins. The blood is then pumped through the mitral valve into the left ventricle. Just like the right atrium, this chamber performs several functions. It is the atrial kick to the left heart. It influences the heart beat rate and has endocrine functions. Most of these functions are performed in a similar manner as the right atrium. The walls of this chamber are slightly thicker than for the right atrium, at 3mm (Nin, 1959).

The left ventricle
This chamber collects oxygenated blood from the left atrium. From this chamber the blood is pumped to the entire body through the aortic valve via the aorta. This is the largest chamber of the heart. It accounts for the most of the interior and left lateral surfaces. This chamber occupies most of the hearts apex. The walls of this chamber are 8-15 mm, even if at the tip of the apex the thickness can be as little as 2mm (Nin, 1959).
Starlings Law is used in explaining the disparity in the amount of blood injected from the ventricles. The more the wall of the chamber is stretched, the more the force of the contraction is, and thus the more the blood injected (Nin, 1959).