The Cardiovascular System Flashcards
(123 cards)
Three major types of vessels are?
Arteries, capillaries, and veins
Arteries?
Carry blood away from the heart
Veins?
They carry blood toward the heart
Capillaries?
They contact tissue cells and directly serve cellular needs
Arteries and veins are composed of what three tunics?
Tunica interna, tunica media, tunica externa
Elastic (conducting) arteries
Thick-walled arteries near the heart; the aorta and its major branches
- Large lumen allow low-resistance conduction of blood - contain elastin in all 3 tunics - Withstand and smooth out large blood pressure fluctuation - Serve as pressure reservoirs
Pressure is what at the vena cava?
0 mm Hg
Muscular arteries
Distal to elastic arteries; deliver blood to body organs
Have thick tunica media with more smooth muscle
Active in vasoconstriction
Arterioles
Smallest arteries; lead to capillary beds
Control flow into capillary beds via vasodilation and constriction
Capillaries structure
Are the smallest blood vessels
Walls consisting of a thin tunica interna one cell thick
Allow only one single RBC to pass at a time
Pericytes on the outer surface stabilize their walls
Continuous capillaries
- Abundant in the skin and muscles
- endothelial cells provide an uninterrupted lining
- adjacent cells are connected with tight junctions
- intercellular clefts allow the passage of fluids
Continuous capillaries of the brain
Have tight junctions completely around the endothelium constitutes the blood-brain barrier
Fenestrated(pores) capillaries
Are found wherever active capillary absorption or filtration formation occurs (example small intestines, endocrine glands and kidneys)
characterized by an endothelium riddled with pores
greater permeability and than continuous capillaries
Sinusoid or sinusoidal capillaries
Are highly modified, leaky, fenestrated capillaries with large lumens
found in the liver, bone marrow, lymphoid tissue, and spleen allow large molecules (proteins and white blood cells) to pass between the blood and surrounding tissue
blood flows sluggishly allowing for modification in various ways
Capillary beds
A microcirculation of interwoven networks of capillaries consisting of: vascular shunts-metarteriole & true capillaries
Vascular shunts- metarteriole
Thoroughfare channel connecting an arteriole directly with a post capillary venule
True capillaries
10 to 100 per capillary bed, capillaries branch off the metarteriole and return at the distal end of the bed
Precapillary sphincter
“Close up”
cuff of smooth muscle that surrounds each true capillary
regulates blood flow into the capillary
blood flow is regulated by vasomotor nerves and Local chemical conditions
Venules
Are formed when capillary beds unite
allow fluid and WBCs to pass from the bloodstream to tissues
Postcapillary venules
Smallest venules, composed of endothelium and a few pericytes
Large venules have one or two layers of smooth muscle (tunica media)
Capacitance vessels
(Blood Reservoirs) that contain 65% of the blood supply
Venous sinuses
Specialized, flattened veins with extremely thin walls (example coronary sinus of the heart and dural sinuses of the brain)
Arterial anastomoses
Provide alternate pathways (collateral channels) for blood to reach a given body region
Varicose veins
Veins with incompetent (leaky) valves