The Chambers and Valves of the Heart
Each of the pumps in the heart has two chambers. The upper chamber is called the atrium, and the lower chambers the ventricle (“belly”). The atria accumulate the blood arriving at the heart and then inject it into the ventricles. The ventricles eject the blood from the heart into the arteries; they perform most of the work required for the pumping. Each pump has two flap valves. The right pump has the tricuspid valve (between the atrium and the ventricle) and the pulmonary valve (at the beginning of the pulmonary artery). The left pump has the mistral valve (between the atrium and the ventricle) and the aortic valve (at the beginning of the aorta). These flap valves operate passively; their leaflets bend open to permit the flow of blood in the forward direction; but they flip shut when there is an incipient flow in the backward direction. We can best understand the operation of the chambers and the valves of the heart by tracing the flow of a parcel of blood through the heart and aroun