Where does this come from, and can I check it?

Cardiac muscle takes its blood from branches that leave the aorta just above the valve. The figure is taken from NHLBI, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

Is this really a human body fact?

Yes. It sits on the Human Body shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

What else can I read about it?

The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.

Mondo Knows Facts

The heart feeds itself through coronary arteries

Cardiac muscle takes its blood from branches that leave the aorta just above the valve The heart cannot use the blood inside its chambers, so two coronary arteries supply the muscle wall. Flow through them peaks while the heart relaxes, because contracting muscle squeezes the small vessels shut. Cardiac muscle also extracts an unusually large share of the oxygen delivered to it. It sits in Mondo's human body collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

NHLBI

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

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Blood pressure records two phases of the heartbeatThe higher figure marks ventricular contraction and the lower figure marks relaxation The human heart beats over one hundred thousand times dailyPumping continuously the heart propels thousands of litres of blood every day Cold narrows the vessels in fingers and toesReduced skin blood flow keeps warm blood in the core at the cost of cold extremities The body produces millions of red blood cells every secondRed blood cells circulate for about 120 days before being recycled An average adult body contains about five litres of bloodBlood accounts for roughly seven to eight percent of total adult body weight Capillary walls are only one single cell layer thickThin vascular walls enable rapid diffusion of oxygen and metabolic nutrients

Tags: heart, arteries, circulation

The heart feeds itself through coronary arteries: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: Cardiac muscle takes its blood from branches that leave the aorta just above the valve. The figure is taken from NHLBI, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a human body fact?: Yes. It sits on the Human Body shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.