Fantastic Voyage Pt. I

Fantastic Voyage: Marissa

Brittany Hardesty

Anatomy and Physiology II

Unit #4 Assignment

05/12/12

Professor Lenore Difiore

All aboard the sub-master 3000! Now that we have successfully been shrunk and injected into Marissa’s femoral vein, let me explain what our journey will entail. The first destination will be the lower lobe of the right lung. Marissa’s immune system has been fighting an evil invasion of bacterium in the lung, and it is our duty to document the battle! Once we have witnessed Marissa’s immune system in action, we will head across the alveolar membrane and onward out the nose. Let us begin our journey.

We are now located in Marissa’s right femoral vein which is part of her thigh. As you can see, we are following the current upward towards Marissa’s pelvic cavity. As you look around you will see Marissa’s femoral striated muscles, or her quadriceps femoris (Thibodeau & Patton, 2008). You can also see her adductor longus muscle tissue to the right. The sub-master 3000 seems to be jetting along, for we are already reaching the external iliac. Before the submarine moves too quickly notice the surrounding lymph nodes! Notice the different sizes: some lymph nodes are larger and some are smaller. Lymph percolates through the areas of the node helping to filter and protect Marissa from harmful bacteria and damaged cells. This biological filtration is a type of defense mechanism. Lymph nodes also help Marissa for they produce the soldier cells: white blood cells (Thibodeau & Patton, 2008).

Now following through the common iliac up towards Marissa’s heart take a look around! The scenery has vastly changed for now you can see Marissa’s irregular shaped pelvic bone. Here, red bone marrow produces new blood cells; this process is known as hematopoiesis. You may now see her ovaries in the distance; these are crucial for reproduction. The smaller winding tube is known as the small intestines, and the larger one is known as the large intestines....