Heart : Difference between tricuspid and bicuspid valves ?

[superminh21]

Could anyone tell me what the difference between tricuspid valve and bicuspid valve ( in function ) is, please ? I don't think those two valves are 'created' differently just for fun. What i think is the tricuspid valve is easier to open, then there could be something related to blood pressure... Thanks very much if you could help me.

[mith]

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/ma ... .An.r.html

[rosalindprazeres]

Just wanted to take a moment and say whats up to everyone here. Looking forward to the forum and what everybody has to talk about.

[Julie5]

Hi, at a guess, the tricuspid valve (separating the right atrium from the right ventriclel) has three cusps (flaps) simply because the diameter of the right side of the heart chambers are greater than the diameter of of the chambers on the left hand side, where a two-flap valve (bicuspid - also known as the mitral valve, because it looks like a bishop's mitre!) will cover the space adequately.

Again, I'm assuming that the reason the ventricle on left side of the heart has a smaller diameter than the right ventricle, is because the muscle around the left ventricle is so much thicker, in order to power the strong systole contraction needed to generate sufficient pressure to drive the oxygenated blood out ofthe left ventricle up through the aorta and around the body. Presumably, too, the smaller the chamber on the left, the easier it is to generate sufficient pressure.

No idea if this is the reason, as I say, I'm just guessing!

There's a nice live video of a beating heart on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_valve