Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Transmission electron microscope image of a capillary with a red blood cell within the pancreas. The capillary lining consists of long, thin endothelial cells, connected by tight junctions . The vessels on the arterial side of the microcirculation are called the arterioles , which are well innervated, are surrounded by smooth muscle cells, and ...
Blood vessels function to transport blood to an animal's body tissues. In general, arteries and arterioles transport oxygenated blood from the lungs to the body and its organs, and veins and venules transport deoxygenated blood from the body to the lungs. Blood vessels also circulate blood throughout the circulatory system.
A capillary is a small blood vessel, from 5 to 10 micrometres in diameter, and is part of the microcirculation system. Capillaries are microvessels and the smallest blood vessels in the body. They are composed of only the tunica intima (the innermost layer of an artery or vein), consisting of a thin wall of simple squamous endothelial cells. [2]
A venule is a very small vein in the microcirculation that allows blood to return from the capillary beds to drain into the venous system via increasingly larger veins. Post-capillary venules are the smallest of the veins with a diameter of between 10 and 30 micrometres (μm).
Veins (/ v eɪ n /) are blood vessels in the circulatory system of humans and most other animals that carry blood towards the heart.Most veins carry deoxygenated blood from the tissues back to the heart; exceptions are those of the pulmonary and fetal circulations which carry oxygenated blood to the heart.
Endothelium refers to cells that line the interior surface of blood vessels and lymphatic vessels, [1] forming an interface between circulating blood or lymph in the lumen and the rest of the vessel wall. It is a thin layer of simple, or single-layered, squamous cells called endothelial cells. Endothelial cells in direct contact with blood are ...
The three layers of a blood vessel are an inner layer (the tunica intima), a middle layer (the tunica media), and an outer layer (the tunica externa). In dissection , the inner coat (tunica intima) can be separated from the middle (tunica media) by a little maceration, or it may be stripped off in small pieces; but, because of its friability ...
As the vessels decrease in size, they increase their surface-area-to-volume ratio. This allows surface properties to play a significant role in the function of the vessel. Diffusion occurs through the walls of the vessels due to a concentration gradient, allowing the necessary exchange of ions, molecules, or blood cells.