deck_610319 Flashcards
What is cardiac output the product of?
The product of stroke volume and heart rate
What type of vessels are arteries?
Low resistance vessels with a high pressure in them
Why must arterial pressure be high?
Has to drive the cardiac output through the arterioles in order to push through the total peripheral resistance
What kind of walls do arteries have?
Distensible walls
Describe the effects of distensible walls in arteries
– arteries stretch during systole so more blood flows in than out & pressure does not rise much– in diastole, the walls recoil so flow continues
What are the typical systolic and diastolic pressures?
systolic ~ 120 mmHg – max. pressurediastolic ~ 80 mmHg – min. pressure
What factos have an effect on the systolic pressure?
• how hard the heart pumps• the total peripheral resistance• stretchiness (‘compliance’) of the arteries
What factors effect diastolic pressure?
• systolic pressure• total peripheral resistance
Define pulse pressure
• the difference between systolic and diastolic• typically about 40 mmHg
How do you calculate the average pressure
iastolic plus one third pulse pressure as systole is shorter than diastole
Where do you find pre-capillary spinchters?
ring of muscle found at the arterial end of capillaries
What vessels make up resistance vessels?Why are they high resistance?What can change the resistance?
Arterioles and pre-capillary sphinctersThey have a narrow lumenTonic contraction of smooth muscles in the walls
What is vasomotor tone?
The tonic contraction of smooth muscle– vasoconstriction is an increase in contraction– vasodilatation is a decrease in contraction
How does vasoconstriction and vasodilatation affect resistance?
Vasoconstriction = increase resistanceVasodilatation = decrease resistance
What affects the contraction of vascular smooth muscle?
Vasomotor tone in produced by the sympathetic branch of the ANS and antagonised by vasodilator factors– the resistance is determined by the balance between the two