General Anatomy of Blood Vessels

the circulatory system including blood vessels, capillaries, and veins

38 cards   |   Total Attempts: 188
  

Cards In This Set

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Three principle categories of blood vessels
Arteries, veins & capillaries
Arteries
Efferent vessels- carry blood away from heart
Veins
Afferent vessels- carry blood back to heart
Capillaries
Microscopic, thin walled vessels that connect the smallest arteries to teh smallest veins
Walls of arteries are composed of 3 layers of
Tunics
Tunica interna
Lines inside of the vessel- exposed to blood- consists of simple squamos epith called endothelium
Tunica media
Mid layer- thickest-smooth muscle, collagen,elastic tiss- strengthen the vess and prevent bp from rupturing them & to provide vasomotion
Vasomotion
Changes in diameter of a blood vessel
Tunica externa
Outer most layer- loose connect tiss often merges w. neigh vess anchors the vess and provides pass4small nerves, lymph vess& smaller blood vess
Vasa vasorum
Small vessels that supply blood to at least the outer half of the wall of a larger vessel
Resistance vessles
A.k.a arteries. bc relatively strong resilient tiss struct that resists high bp- constructed to w/stand surges
Conducting ( elastic or large) arteries
BIGGEST-expand during ventricular systole to receive blood& recoil during diastole.sub to highest bp& have elastic tiss
Distributing (muscular or medium) arteries
Smaller branches that distrib blood to specif organs- interestate highway- 40 layers of smooth musc
Resistance ( small) arteries
Too variable in # and location to be given individual names- 25 layers of smooth musc & relatively little elastic tiss
Arterioles
Smallest of the resistance arteries 40-200Mm w/ only one to 3 layers of smooth muscle