In the '
heart', a 'ventricle' is a heart chamber which collects
blood from an
atrium (another heart chamber that is smaller than a ventricle) and
pumps it out of the heart.
In a four-chambered heart, such as that in
humans, there are two ventricles: the '
right ventricle' pumps blood into the
pulmonary circulation for the
lungs, and the '
left ventricle' pumps blood into the
systemic circulation for the rest of the body. (See
Double circulatory system for details.)
Ventricles have thicker walls than the atria, and thus can create higher
blood pressure.
Comparing the left and right ventricle, the left ventricle has thicker walls because it needs to pump blood to the whole body.
See also
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Cardiology
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Ventricular action potential
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Ejection fraction
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Ventricular assist device (VAD),a chamber that collects and stores blood from the capilleries.
External links
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