054 Blood Pressure and Mean Arterial Pressure

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Often, one of the first things we get checked for at the clinic is our blood pressure. What do the values reflect? When we measure using the mean arterial pressure formula, what is actually being measured? Watch and listen to learn more.

Have fun!

Intro

Hello and welcome to another episode of Interactive-Biology TV where we’re making Biology fun! My name is Leslie Samuel. In this episode, Episode 54, I’m going to be talking about Blood Pressure and Mean Arterial Pressure.

When you go to the doctor’s office, one of the first things they do is take your blood pressure. And, you know what? After today, you’re going to know exactly what they’re doing and what it means if you don’t already know. So, let’s get right into the topic for today.

The Heart

Here, we have the heart. The heart plays a very important role in the cardiovascular or circulatory system. It’s pumping the blood throughout the body. The blood carries oxygen. It also carries nutrients to the muscles and other organs in order for you to live and carry out all your activities.

Here is the heart. Let’s take the heart and put it inside the human body. It serves its purpose of pumping the blood through these arteries to the rest of the body. Of course, the blood is coming back via these veins to the heart.

That process goes over and over. It’s also sending the blood to the lungs so that it can get the oxygen that it needs. It then sends that to the body and so on. We’ve kind of spoken about that in previous episodes.

Understanding Blood Pressure

We want to talk about blood pressure. First, I’m going to define blood pressure and I’m going to do it simply by writing here.

We have the blood here and the blood vessels. As the heart is beating and it’s sending that blood out to the body, it’s going via these blood vessels. Because it’s being pumped, that is going to exert pressure on the blood vessels. We’re going to call this pressure hydrostatic pressure. The reason we call it hydrostatic pressure is because blood is a fluid. When fluids exert pressure on something, that is called, hydrostatic pressure.

The blood is being pumped. It’s going through these blood vessels. It’s hitting against the walls of the blood vessels, the inner lining of the blood vessels. That is exerting pressure on those blood vessels. This is what we mean when we say blood pressure.

Blood Pressure Readings – Systolic and Diastolic Pressures

Blood moves away from the heart through the aorta and returns to the heart via the Superior vena cava. The closer you are to the heart, the more you’re going to feel the blood pressure.
Blood moves away from the heart through the aorta and returns to the heart via the Superior vena cava.

When the doctor or nurse is taking your blood pressure, they are checking to see how much pressure is exerted by the blood on the blood vessels. That is a very important measure when it comes to the health of your body.

When the blood leaves the heart, as we’ve shown before, the blood then goes into the aorta. The aorta is this vessel that’s leaving from the heart, and then, that goes down here. This is called the descending aorta and it goes via these other blood vessels to the rest of the body.

It would make sense to understand that you’re going to feel more pressure as you get closer to the heart. If you are right by the heart, you’re going to feel more pressure than if you are all the way down here in the toes, right? That is because this is where the heart is beating, and the farther away you go from there, the lower the pressure is going to be.

Let’s look at how this works. What I’m going to do is I’m going to draw a little graph here. Here, we have the y-axis and then, here, we are going to draw the x-axis.

Let’s chart the blood pressure as the blood flows. Blood is going to leave the heart via the aorta and goes to the smaller vessels called arteries. From there, it’s going to pass through even smaller arterioles and then, to the capillaries.

That is where it actually crosses over from being in the arteries section, arteries, and arterioles, to where it’s going into the veins. But, before it goes to the veins, it’s going to go via the venules and then, the veins. When it’s in the venules and the veins, it’s because it’s going back to the heart eventually via the vena cava.

The graph shows the change in blood pressure values as the heart beats and contracts to pump the blood to the different parts of the body. It reflects the greatest amount in blood pressure during ventricular contraction. This is recorded as the systolic pressure.

We’re going away from the heart via the aorta and then, we go to the arteries. A very easy way of remembering this is the ‘a’ in ‘arteries,’ ‘arterioles,’ and ‘aorta’ is going ‘away’ from the heart. When it reaches the tissues and the organs, it’s going to have an exchange in the capillaries where it then goes into the venules, to the veins, and then, back via the vena cava to the heart.

Let’s look at the pressure on the y-axis. I’m going to give some values of 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, and 140. On the y-axis, we’re dealing with pressure in millimeters of mercury (mm Hg).

When the heart contracts, we have ventricular contraction and that’s when we’re going to get the greatest amount of pressure because the ventricles are larger than the atria. When they contract, sending the blood to the rest of the body, that’s going to give you the systolic pressure, which is going to be the greatest pressure.

We’re going to see here, (let me draw this in… Let’s go with red), the ventricles are contracting so the pressure is going to increase significantly, and then, as the atria contract, you’re going to get that little bump there. That process continues as the heart beats. We’re in the arteries.

As we go away from the arteries and into the arterioles, what you’re going to see, we’re getting away from the heart a little bit, the pressure is going to start kind of going down, going down. As you go away, you’re going to see smaller fluctuations. You’re not getting as great of an effect.

As we reach into the capillaries, it’s kind of dying down even more and the pressure is going to continue going down and down until, on the way back to the heart, there’s hardly any pressure remaining. I mean, in comparison to up here, where we had pressures of up to 120 mm Hg, or sometimes even more in this situation, in comparison, the farther away we get from the heart and as the blood is being pushed back to the heart, we don’t get these fluctuations in pressure and there’s significantly less pressure as the blood is going back to the heart.

Systolic pressure is measured during contraction. Diastolic pressure is measured during relaxation.
Systolic pressure is measured during contraction. Diastolic pressure is measured during relaxation.

When the doctor takes your pressure and the doctor says, “You are in excellent health. Your blood pressure is great,” what are the numbers that you usually hear? The numbers that you usually hear are 120 over 80 (120/80). What that refers to, of course at the top, we have the systolic pressure and here we have the diastolic pressure – systolic pressure and diastolic pressure.

Systolic is during systole, contraction so, that’s the higher point. Diastolic is during relaxation where we have a lower point. If you have that 120/80, you are a happy camper. All is well with the world, at least where your blood pressure is concerned. That is what we want to have.

That is blood pressure. When you’re measuring blood pressure, you’re measuring the difference between systole and diastolecontraction and relaxation.

Calculating Mean Arterial Pressure

Now, let’s talk a little bit about ‘mean arterial pressure.’ (M.A.P. for short). Mean arterial pressure, when you hear the word mean, you always think average. The mean arterial pressure is basically the average pressure in the arteries. We’re not looking at the fluctuations. We are looking at the average.

Let’s take the average and plot a second line. It would look something like this.– a straight line here and as it goes down, it’s going to look a little like this until where we have a straight line here. It follows that straight line. That gives us the average pressure in the arteries.

Two Ways to Calculate Mean Arterial Pressure (Mean Arterial Pressure Formulas)

1. Calculating Mean Arterial Pressure using Cardiac Output (CO)

There’s a formula that we use to calculate mean arterial pressure. Mean arterial pressure, M.A.P., is going to be equal to CO times PR.

M.A.P. = CO x PR

Now, two of these you know already: M.A.P., mean arterial pressure; and CO, you should know that that is cardiac output. PR is one that we haven’t covered. PR is ‘peripheral resistance.’ As I said, M.A.P. = CO x PR.

We’re going to go more into peripheral resistance in the next episode so, I’m not going to deal too much with this. The main thing that you want to know is the two factors that are going to influence mean arterial pressure are: cardiac output and peripheral resistance.

Peripheral resistance is basically, we’re going to define that as, opposition to blood flow. The blood is flowing but, of course, there’s going to be some resistance, there’s going to be friction between the blood and the walls of the blood vessels, and so forth.

2. Calculating Mean Arterial Pressure from Measured Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressure Values

There’s another way of calculating mean arterial pressure. Mean arterial pressure is also equal to diastolic blood pressure, so, that’s during diastole, relaxation, plus 1/3 times systolic blood pressure minus diastolic blood pressure.

M.A.P. = diastolic BP + 1/3 (systolic BP – diastolic BP)

Once again, if you’re looking at that graph where we had something kind of looking like this, in the beginning, and if this is 80 and this is 120, the mean arterial pressure is going to be equal to 80 plus 1/3 of 120 minus 80, is 40, and that’s going to be equal to 80 plus let’s see, 1/3 of 40, let’s go with 13.3, I’m just going to leave that at 13, so, mean arterial pressure would be equal to 93 mm Hg.

M.A.P. = 80 + 1/3 (40) = 80 + 13 = 93

That’s Mean Arterial Pressure.

Conclusion

Two ways to calculate it (Mean Arterial Pressure): (1) Cardiac output times peripheral resistance. We’ve dealt with cardiac output, that’s the amount of blood pumped by the heart every minute and we’re multiplying that by peripheral resistance which is the opposition to blood flow (in Episode 55, we’re going to go a little more into peripheral resistance).

Or, (2) we can take the diastolic blood pressure plus one-third of the difference between the systolic and diastolic blood pressures which in this case would be 80 plus a third of 40 which would be approximately 13, which gives us 93 mm Hg:

M.A.P. = 80 + 1/3 (40) = 80 + 13 = 93 mm Hg


That’s pretty much it for this episode. Of course, if you want to check out some more Biology videos and other resources like quizzes and the community that we have at Interactive-Biology, you can check out the website at Interactive-Biology.com.

That’s all for now, and I’ll see you on the next one.



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Leave a Reply

  1. Thanks Leslie, I like the graph. That was a great way to showing why and how the BP goes thru the system. Now, only if my teacher can explain it like you!

  2. MAP = diastolic BP + (1/3)*(systolic BP – diastolic BP) is an interesting equation. It basically says to take one-third of the difference in pressures and add it to the diastolic pressure. I wonder if they use the fraction 1/3 because it is close enough, or if they did some mathematical analysis and came up with that fraction. If I remember right, to find the average of a function (in math) you would calculate the integral (area under the curve) from x=a to x=b and divide by b-a to find the average function value between x=a and x=b. From the curve given, the equation does look like it will give a good estimation of the MAP.

    This is a good video. I enjoyed watching it. 🙂

  3. The way you suggest would also work. This is a very simple formula that can be used to estimate the MAP with a significant amount of accuracy. My guess is that it’s based on how long the contraction lasts and how long the different levels of tension last for. The 1/3 is much easier than what you described, and (of course), I prefer the easier way 😉

  4. Ok, thanks for the reply. I agree that using the given equation is much easier than trying to find the area under the curve. I might be too much of a math geek. 🙂

  5. i am a nursing student and this is very informative for my studies. thanks for the video! you explain so well!

  6. hello again lesile 🙂 , i have a question hope you can answer it , i know that the arterial blood volume it is the amount of blood within the blood vesseles , its 10-15 % of the total blood volume in the body , when we run , or doing sport.. , so we have a greater heart rate , greater stroke volume , and a greater arterial blood pressure , whats happens exact? , is that another amount of blood enters to the vesseles? , or the same amount of blood in the vesseles moving fastly? , and how thats happens? the arteries become more large and the veins become smaller? thank you 🙂

  7. U teach even better than my college professor. because of u i made A on the test. good work…keep it up man.

  8. Thank You. Im in nursing school now but i had to go back to basics b/c i couldnt remember anything i learned in bio, anatomy & physiology etc

  9. Thank You. Im in nursing school now but i had to go back to basics b/c i couldnt remember anything i learned in bio, anatomy & physiology etc

  10. Wow! That’s good to hear. WE’re happy to know we were able to help. Do stay tuned. We will have more Biology videos uploaded to the site soon.

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  14. Thank you for these tools. I was having a difficult time following my professor, and material. This makes it a lot more clear. Keep up the great work!

  15. Thank you for these tools. I was having a difficult time following my professor, and material. This makes it a lot more clear. Keep up the great work!

  16. This is powerful stuff, I saw my biology class like an obstacle to my career. Now I actually want to learn. Your videos are helping me alot, not just for class but for my life. I am changing my unhealthy lifestyle and appreciating my beautiful body. Thanks! You truely are a good man taking the time to make these videos and teaching.

  17. This is powerful stuff, I saw my biology class like an obstacle to my career. Now I actually want to learn. Your videos are helping me alot, not just for class but for my life. I am changing my unhealthy lifestyle and appreciating my beautiful body. Thanks! You truely are a good man taking the time to make these videos and teaching.

  18. At pressure 120 on 80 and pulse 60 in minute, pressure it is equal 47,994. It is interesting, how the author of a clip will explain a high blood pressure in a femoral artery? Pressure in a femoral artery above, than at the basis of an aorta.

  19. At pressure 120 on 80 and pulse 60 in minute, pressure it is equal 47,994. It is interesting, how the author of a clip will explain a high blood pressure in a femoral artery? Pressure in a femoral artery above, than at the basis of an aorta.

  20. Thanks, I’m applying for nursing school in 2 weeks. I’ve taken A&P1 and in 2 now, have taken nutrition, chem, and microbiology. You have helped me alot. I look forward to watching more vids from you. Subscribed today.

  21. Thanks, I’m applying for nursing school in 2 weeks. I’ve taken A&P1 and in 2 now, have taken nutrition, chem, and microbiology. You have helped me alot. I look forward to watching more vids from you. Subscribed today.

  22. Thank you so much, this is very helpful!
    I’ve watched quite a few of your vids and they are helping me get through uni.

  23. I understand what pressure is but not what mercury is? Sorry if this is a dumb question.

  24. Yay! I totally get this right now! I will definitely recommend this to my other schoolmates! Your channel makes Science and Biology more easier for me to study! My parents will be so proud of me! Thanks for uploading this video! Keep up the good work! 😀

  25. Yay! I totally get this right now! I will definitely recommend this to my other schoolmates! Your channel makes Science and Biology more easier for me to study! My parents will be so proud of me! Thanks for uploading this video! Keep up the good work! 😀

  26. thank you very much as a nursing student….can i have my request..on the OR INSTRUMENT PLS because tha my next duty…

  27. thank you very much as a nursing student….can i have my request..on the OR INSTRUMENT PLS because tha my next duty…

  28. Thank you very much for the video. Could you please answer to my questions? Can I say say that the MAP is an average of the systolic and diastolic blood pressure reflecting tissue perfusion? OR the pressure forcing blood into tissues,averaged over the cardiac cycle.

  29. You’re a life saver!! i learnso much faster watching your videos vs reading the textbook ^-^

  30. Speack quicker and stop with the usseles details! It’a video about the blood pressure so cut it off…

  31. Hey! Thanks a lot for this useful video. By the way, I notice lots of people keep on talking about Hibloderox Remedy (do a search on google), but I’m not sure if it is good. Have you tried home remedy called Hibloderox Remedy? I have heard some awesome things about it and my cousin completely cure his high blood pressure naturally with this remedy.

  32. Hey! Thanks for this useful video. By the way, I notice lots of people keep on talking about Hibloderox Remedy (search on google), but I’m not sure if it is good. Have you thought about home remedy called Hibloderox Remedy? I’ve heard several awesome things about it and my friend completely cure his hypertension safely with this remedy.

  33. Co x pr is blood pressure, NOT MAP. MAP is diastolic pressure + (pulse pressure)3. And it’s not an even average between systolic and diastolic pressures. This is just wrong.

  34. This still surprises me, just how lots of people do not know about Hibloderox Remedy (do a search on google), despite the fact that many people completely cure their hypertension naturally with this remedy. Thanks to my cousin who told me about Hibloderox Remedy, I finally eliminated my pain & embarrassment for good with natural approaches.

  35. Guys, completely cure your hypertension doesn’t need to be hard (I used to think it did). I’ll give you some advice right now. Search remedy called Hibloderox Remedy (just google it). Seriously, I finally eliminated my pain & embarrassment caused by high blood pressure for good by using Hibloderox Remedy.

  36. I would like to thank you from the buttom of my heart! Your all videos helped me alot in understanding everything. You are such a good teacher and an amazing helping man! God bless you and your loved ones.

  37. I think he meant pr is TPR(total peripheral resistance), so SV(stroke volume) x HR is CO(cardiac output) and COxTPR is BP. You can see at 12.12

  38. i knew it was wrong! b/c i sure don’t remember that from class at all! thx for clarifying it.

  39. Hey! Thank you for this helpful video. By the way, I hear many people keep on talking about Hibloderox Remedy (do a search on google), but I’m not sure if it is really good. Have you thought about home remedy called Hibloderox Remedy? I’ve heard several incredible things about it and my buddy completely cure his high blood pressure safely with this remedy.

  40. thank you so much for this nice video , but in some resources says that the pressure in capillaries is zero and from this chart that you draw it shows that there is a pressure , could you please explain 🙂

  41. Thank you for your videos. They are really informative and are surely going to help me for my exams.
    I want to ask you the basic difference between arterial blood pressure and mean arterial blood pressure and its significance. i have seen that there is a common formula to denote both of them, i.e.
    BP=CO*PR
    MAP=CO*PR
    Could you please tell me the difference between the two??

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