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An arteriole is a small-diameter blood vessel in the microcirculation that extends and branches out from an artery and leads to capillaries. [1] Arterioles have muscular walls (usually only one to two layers of smooth muscle cells) and are the primary site of vascular resistance. The greatest change in blood pressure and velocity of blood flow ...
Vascular smooth muscle cells also play important roles during development, e.g. driving osteocyte differentiation from undifferentiated precursors during osteogenesis [1]. Arteries have a great deal more smooth muscle within their walls than veins, thus their greater wall thickness. This is because they have to carry pumped blood away from the ...
[3] [4] The Bayliss effect in vascular smooth muscles cells is a response to stretch. This is especially relevant in arterioles of the body. When blood pressure is increased in the blood vessels and the blood vessels distend, they react with a constriction; this is the Bayliss effect. Stretch of the muscle membrane opens a stretch-activated ion ...
The microcirculation has three major components: pre-capillary, capillary, and post-capillary. In the pre-capillary sector, arterioles, and precapillary sphincters participate. Their function is to regulate blood flow before it enters the capillaries and venules by the contraction and relaxation of the smooth muscle found on their walls.
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.
Normal blood vessel (left) vs. vasodilation (right) Vasodilation, also known as vasorelaxation, is the widening of blood vessels. [1] It results from relaxation of smooth muscle cells within the vessel walls, in particular in the large veins, large arteries, and smaller arterioles. [2]
Arteries branch into small passages called arterioles and then into the capillaries. [19] The capillaries merge to bring blood into the venous system. [20] The total length of muscle capillaries in a 70 kg human is estimated to be between 9,000 and 19,000 km. [21]
To summarize, vasoconstriction is a physiological process that involves the narrowing of blood vessels, particularly arteries and arterioles, resulting in a reduction of blood flow to specific tissues or organs. This phenomenon is primarily regulated by the contraction of smooth muscle cells within the vessel walls.