View source for Pulmonary circulation

[[Image:Illu_pulmonary_circuit.jpg|thumb|300px]]

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==Overview==

'''Pulmonary circulation''' is the portion of the [[cardiovascular system]] which carries [[oxygen]]-depleted [[blood]] away from the heart, to the [[lungs]], and returns oxygenated blood back to the heart. The term is contrasted with [[systemic circulation]].

==Course==
In the pulmonary circulation, deoxygenated blood exits the heart through arteries, enters the lungs and comes back through pulmonary veins.

===Right heart===
Oxygen-depleted blood from the [[body]] leaves the systemic circulation when it enters the [[right heart]], more specifically the [[right atrium]]. The blood is then pumped through the [[tricuspid valve]] (or right atrioventricular valve), into the [[right ventricle]].

===Arteries===
From the [[right ventricle]], blood is pumped through the pulmonary semi-lunar valve into the [[pulmonary artery]]. This blood enters the two [[pulmonary arteries]] (one for each lung) and travels through the [[lungs]].

===Lungs===
The pulmonary arteries carry blood to the lungs, where [[red blood cell]]s release [[carbon dioxide]] and pick up oxygen during [[respiration (physiology)|respiration]]. 

===Veins===
The oxygenated blood then leaves the lungs through [[pulmonary veins]], which return it to the [[left heart]], completing the pulmonary cycle. This blood then enters the [[left atrium]], which pumps it through the bicuspid valve, also called the mitral or left atrioventricular valve, into the [[left ventricle]]. The blood is then distributed to the body through the systemic circulation before returning again to the pulmonary circulation.

==History==
Pulmonary circulation was first discovered and published by [[Ibn Nafis]] in his ''Commentary on Anatomy in Avicenna's Canon'' (1242), for which he is considered the father of [[Cardiovascular physiology|circulatory physiology]].<ref>Chairman's Reflections (2004), "Traditional Medicine Among Gulf Arabs, Part II: Blood-letting", ''Heart Views'' '''5''' (2), p. 74-85 [80].</ref> It was later published by [[Michael Servetus]] in ''Christianismi Restitutio'' (1553).
Since it was a theology work condemned by most of the Christian factions of his time, the discovery remained mostly unknown until the dissections of [[William Harvey]] in 1616.

==Embryonic==
The pulmonary circulation loop is virtually bypassed in [[fetal circulation]].  The fetal lungs are collapsed, and blood passes from the right atrium directly into the left atrium through the [[foramen ovale]], an open passage between the two atria.  When the lungs expand at birth, the pulmonary pressure drops and blood is drawn from the right atrium into the right ventricle and through the pulmonary circuit.  Over the course of several months, the [[foramen ovale]] closes, leaving a shallow depression known as the [[fossa ovalis]] in the adult heart. 

==See also==
*[[Systemic circulation]]
*[[Double circulatory system]]
*[[Pulmonary hypertension]]
*[[Pulmonary artery]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
*[http://sln.fi.edu/biosci/systems/pulmonary.html Pulmonary Circulation at fi.edu]
* {{GeorgiaPhysiology|4/4ch4/s4ch4_2}}
* {{MeshName|Pulmonary+circulation}}

{{cardiovascular system}}
{{Arteries of head and neck}}   
{{Arteries of upper limbs}} 
{{Arteries of chest}}
{{Arteries of abdomen}}
{{Arteries of lower limbs}} 
{{Respiratory physiology}}
{{SIB}}

[[Category:Cardiovascular system]]
[[Category:Pulmonology]]
[[Category:Physiology]]

[[ar:الدورة الدموية الصغرى]]
[[de:Lungenkreislauf]]
[[it:Circolazione polmonare]]
[[ja:肺循環]]
[[la:Circulatio pulmonaris]]
[[nds:Lungenkreisloop]]
[[pl:Krążenie płucne]]
[[pt:Pequena circulação]]
[[sv:Lilla kretsloppet]]


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