Primary Function of the Cardiovascular System
Sometimes referred to as the circulatory or blood-vascular system, the cardiovascular system consists of the muscular heart, blood components and more than 80,000 miles of blood vessels all in a closed circuit. These blood vessels are veins, arteries, arterioles and capillaries, and they are responsible for transporting blood to every system of the body. The primary function of the cardiovascular system is to pump blood and nutrients throughout the body, remove cellular waste and to maintain homeostasis.
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Transports
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Arteries carry oxygenated, nutrient-rich blood away from the heart to the rest of the body. These relatively large blood vessels further divide into increasingly smaller vessels called arterioles and capillaries. These smallest vessels, called capillaries, are where the exchange of nutrients and oxygen occurs at the cellular level. In addition to oxygen and nutrients, your body also transports hormones, chemicals produced by glands that are released into the bloodstream and are responsible for promoting homeostasis.
Removes
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Once the capillaries release the nutrients into the cell bodies, they then pick up cellular wastes. This waste consists of carbon dioxide, nitrogen and heat, and it is then transported via the veins to various other body systems in order to be expelled. For example, your body releases carbon dioxide from the lungs when you exhale. Nitrogenous waste, in the form of ammonia, urea and uric acid, is excreted by the kidneys as urine. And the body releases heat from the skin so that it maintains a constant temperature.
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Protects
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The five types of white blood cells present in the blood of the cardiovascular system protect the body against infection and foreign bodies. Also present in blood are antibodies, proteins produced by the body when it detects an antigen. Antigens are any harmful substance to the body, usually bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites and chemicals. Finally, platelets are the blood component that aid in the clotting process when you receive a cut to your skin.
Regulates
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One of the most important functions of the cardiovascular system is to promote homeostasis in order to keep the body systems in balance. For example, the cardiovascular system regulates body temperature by removing excess heat when the body is too hot, or by diverting more blood to vital organs and away from extremities when the body is too cold. The cardiovascular system also monitors body pH and cellular water content.
Considerations
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What is interesting about the cardiovascular system is that it is one of the first body systems to form and be totally functional. In fact, the human heart begins to beat early in the fourth week of gestation. This is because the developing embryo requires a functioning cardiovascular system to pump blood and nutrients to its cells so that they might grow and divide. Likewise, the ability for other body systems to work properly is dependent on a functioning cardiovascular system.
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