NAME:

Piranavan Parthipan

ID NUMBER:
DATE:

200801265

14 April 2010

LAB DAY:

Mondays

REF NUMBER:

112

TITLE: Blood Pressure and

Heart Sounds

INTRODUCTION
The heart has four chambers: two upper chambers the atria and two
lower chambers the ventricles. The heart has valves that close with
each heart beat, causing blood to flow in only one direction. The valves
are located between the atria and ventricles, and between the
ventricles and the major vessels from the heart (Tortora and
Derrickson, 2009).
Normal heart sounds are called S1 and S2. They are the "lubb-dubb"
sounds that are thought of as the heartbeat. The first sound lubb is a
result of closure of the semi atrioventricular valves. It marks the
beginning of systole. The second heart sound dubb is the result of
closure of the semi lunar valves and this marks the end of systole.
Normally, there is no sound when the heart valve opens. In a person
with congenital heart disease or heart valve disease, a "click" sound
may be heard during a physical exam ().
Murmurs occur when a valve does not close tightly such as with mitral
regurgitation and blood leaks backward. They also can occur when the
blood flows through a narrowed or stiff valve. The location, quality, and
timing of the murmur are all important. Murmurs are classified
depending on their ability to be heard by the examiner. The grading is
on a scale for example grade I can barely be heard.
Blood pressure is usually referred to the force applied to the walls of
the arteries as generated by the left ventricle during systole and the
pressure remaining in the arteries when the ventricle is in diastole.
Blood pressure is continually changing depending on activity,
temperature, diet, emotional state, posture, physical state, and
medication use.
A way in which blood pressure can be measured is by the use of a
sphygmomanometer and stethoscope. The blood pressure cuff is
wrapped snugly around the upper arm, positioning it so that the lower
edge of the cuff is 1 inch above the bend of the elbow and inflated to a
pressure greater than the suspected systolic pressure then the head of
the stethoscope is placed over the brachial artery found on the cubital
fossa, below the cuff.
Blood pressure (and heart rate) is lowest when lying down. This is due
to the fact that the body does not have to work too hard to pump blood
around the body, because the body is in the same horizontal plane. If
the body is then seated upright, there is an increase in blood pressure

and heart rate. This is because the heart is now pumping harder to get
the blood around the body. After exercise the blood pressure is
increased tremendously as the heart is working harder to pump the
blood around the body to deliver oxygen to muscles and removing
waste chemicals from metabolic reactions.

Objectives from this experiment are to observe the:

effect of different positions on blood pressure
effect of gender on blood pressure and heart sounds

METHODS AND MATERIAL

Materials:
Stethoscope
Sphygmomanometer
Methods:
Please refer to the human physiology lab manual page 16

RESULTS
Table 1: Effect of position on blood pressure with reference to
gender
Sex

Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female

Sitting

Position
Supine

117/83
113/83
116/80
113/73
125/93
116/76

115/75
116/77
115/81
115/79
126/91
114/78

Table 2: Sounds of the heart with reference to gender

After
exercise
144/88
137/87
118/75
120/77
138/90
130/80

Sex
Male

Female

Quadrant
NW
SW
SE
NE
NW
SW
SE
NE

Sound
lubb
lubb
lubb
lubb
dubb
dubb
dubb
faint lubb

Table 1 shows the effects of position on blood pressure 3 males and 3

females were used in this experiment. Each of them were placed in a
different position like seated, supine and after undergoing exercise. The
results were obtained from both the females and males and were
tabulated.
Table 2 shows the results of the sounds heard from the heart of 2
subjects a male and a female through a stethoscope, whilst seated in a
resting position.

Discussion
It was determined experimentally that males generally have higher
blood pressure values than females do and that heart sounds are
different for the males and females in all the observed quadrants.
Likely reasons as to why this was so include inexperienced ears thus
making it difficult to distinguish the heard sounds.

REFERENCE
Tortora J. Gerard, Derrickson H. Bryan, 2009, 12th edition,
Principles Of Anatomy and Physiology, John Wiley and sons
John M. Criley, Physiological Origins of Heart Sounds and
Murmurs (Revised),

Practical 6 Answers:
1. The P-wave represents the time taken for the impulse to travel
across atria to AV node and its amplitude is its strength, P-R

interval reflects the time taken for the impulse to travel from the
sinus node to the atrioventricular node, the QRS duration is the
time taken for ventricular depolarization to occur.
2. Son
3.
Systolic Pressure (mmHg)
90-120

Diastolic Pressure (mmHg)

60-80

4. 140+ mmHg
5. Systolic blood pressure is the pressure of the aorta and in its
main branches during each heartbeat as blood is pumped into
the arteries. A low pressure could mean that the aorta is weak
6. Diuretics help the body get rid of excess salt and fluids via the
kidneys. In certain cases, they relax blood vessels, reducing the
strain on your circulation.
7. Increased salt intake causes more fluid to be retained in the blood
vessels. This increased volume of blood requires the heart to
work harder to pump blood to all the tissues in the body.
Increasing the bloods volume within the enclosure of the
circulatory system is one way that salt increases blood pressure.
Therefore, reducing salt intake should have the opposite effects