WEEK VII (Blood vessels & Blood pressure) Flashcards
What is the function of blood vessels?
Blood vessels transport and distribute blood pumped through them baby the heart to meet the body’s needs for O2 and nutrient delivery, waste removal and hormonal signalling
What is the function of arteries?
Arteries transport blood from the heart to the organs and serve as a pressure reservoir to continue driving blood forward when the heart is relaxing and filling
What does the amount of blood that flows through a given organ depend on?
The CALIBER/INTERNAL DIAMETER of the highly muscular ARTERIOLES that supply the organ
What are capillaries?
The site of exchange between blood and surrounding tissue cells
What is the function of Veins?
Return blood from the organs to the heart and serve as a blood reservoir
What is closely regulated to ensure adequate blood delivery to the organs?
Mean arterial blood pressure
Blood flow to other organs can be adjusted according to metabolic needs except which organ?
The brain
[The brain can least tolerate disrupted supply therefore always needs blood supply otherwise brain death can occur in 4 mins]
Describe the flow rate of blood through a vessel
The flow rate is DIRECTLY proportional to the PRESSURE GRADIENT (as the pressure gradient increases, flow rate increases) and INVERSELY proportional to the VASCULAR RESISTANCE (as resistance increases, flow rate decreases)
What is the equation to calculate blood flow?
F = ΔP/R
F = flow rate of blood through a vessel
ΔP = Pressure gradient
R = Resistance of blood vessels
What is the Pressure gradient?
The pressure difference between the beginning and end of a vessel
[blood flows from area of higher pressure to area of lower pressure]
What is resistance?
A measure of opposition of blood flow through a vessel which depends on blood viscosity, vessel length and vessel radius
What are the properties of Blood flow?
- The vessel’s radius determines resistance
- Slight change in radius produces significant change in blood flow
- R is proportional to 1/r^4
What is the main driving force for flow through a vessel?
Contraction of the heart imparting pressure to the blood
What happens when resistance to flow increases?
It is more difficult for blood to pass through the vessel -> Flow rate decreases -> Pressure gradient must increase correspondingly to maintain the same flow rate -> Heart must work harder to maintain adequate circulation
What are the properties of Resistance to blood flow?
- Directly proportional to viscosity of the blood
- Directly proportional to vessel length
- Inversely proportional to vessel radius
What is Poiseuille’s equation?
Poiseuille’s equation gives factors that change the resistance of blood vessels
What is Poiseuille’s equation?
Poiseuille’s equation gives factors that change the resistance of blood vessels
What is parallel resistance?
In Parallel resistance each organ is supplied by an artery that branches off the aorta and the total resistance of this parallel arrangement is a compilation of the different resistances in other circulations 1/Rtotal=1/Ra+1/Rb+1/Rc
[illustrated by systemic circulation]
What are the properties of Parallel resistance?
- Each artery in parallel receives a fraction of the total blood flow
- The total resistance is less than the resistance of any of the individual arteries
- When an artery is ADDED in parallel, the total resistance DECREASES
- In each parallel artery, the pressure is the same
What is Series resistance?
Series resistance
What is Series resistance?
Series resistance is illustrated by the arrangement of blood vessels within a given organ. Each organ is supplied by a large artery, smaller arteries, arterioles, capillaries and veins arranged in series. The total resistance is the sum of the individual resistances Rtotal=Rartery+Rarterioles+Rcapillaries
What are the properties of Series resistance?
- The largest proportion of resistance is contributed by ARTERIOLES
- Each blood vessel receives the same total blood flow
- As blood flows through the series of blood vessels, PRESSURE DECREASES
What is the difference between Laminar flow and Turbulent flow?
Laminar flow = Streamlined
Turbulent flow = Not streamlined
What is Reynold’s number?
Reynold’s number predicts whether blood flow is LAMINAR or TURBULENT
Reynold’s number is INCREASED -> Greater tendency for TURBULENCE -> Causes audible vibrations called BRUITS
What is Reynold’s number increased by?
- Decrease in blood viscosity
- Increase is blood velocity
What is viscosity?
Viscosity refers to the friction between fluid molecules during flow
[thicker liquids have higher viscosity and greater resistance to flow]
What is Blood viscosity and Resistance to flow determined by?
Blood viscosity = number of circulating red blood cells
Resistance to flow = vessel’s radius