FETAL CIRCULATION

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• Introduction to fetal circulation
• Throughout the fetal stage of development, the
maternal blood supplies the fetus with O2 and
nutrients and carries away its wastes.
Fetal Circulation OH-98
-In the fetal circulatory system, the umbilical
vein transports blood rich in O2 and nutrients
from the placenta to the fetal body.
–The umbilical vein enters the body through the
umbilical ring and travels along the anterior
abdominal wall to the liver.
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 - There, the oxygenated blood from the
placenta is mixed with the deoxygenated
blood from the lower parts of the body.
- This mixture continues through the vena
cava to the right atrium.
– In the adult heart, blood flows from the
right atrium to the right ventricle then
through the pulmonary arteries to the
lungs.

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• As the blood from the inferior vena cava
enters the right atrium, a large proportion of it
is shunted directly into the left atrium through
an opening called the foramen ovale.
•Only a small volume of blood enters the
pulmonary circuit, because the lungs are
collapsed, and their blood vessels have a high
resistance to flow.
•the blood is prevented from entering the portion
of the aorta that provides branches leading to
the brain.
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 •The blood carried by the descending aorta is
partially oxygenated and partially deoxygenated.
•Some of it is carries into the branches of the
aorta that lead to various parts of the lower
regions of
the body.
•The rest passes into the umbilical arteries,
which branch from the internal iliac arteries and
lead to the placenta.
•There the blood is reoxygenated.

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Fetal Circulation

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Fetal Circulation

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Fetal Circulation

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• The Newborn
• The initial inflation of the lungs causes
important changes in the circulatory system.
• Inflation of the lungs reduces the resistance to
blood flow through the lungs resulting in
increases blood flow from the pulmonary
arteries.
• Consequently, an increased amount of blood
flows from the right atrium to the right
ventricle and into the pulmonary arteries and
less blood flows through the foramen ovale to
the left atrium.
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• In addition, an increased volume of blood returns
from the lungs through the pulmonary veins to the
left atrium, which increases the pressure in the left
atrium.
• The increased left atrial pressure and
decreased right atrial pressure (due to
pulmonary resistance) forces blood against
the septum primum causing the foramen
ovale to close.
• This action functionally completes the
separation of the heart into two pumps--right
and left sides of the heart.
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