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Arterial blood is the oxygenated blood in the circulatory system found in the pulmonary vein, the left chambers of the heart, and in the arteries. [1] It is bright red in color, while venous blood is dark red in color (but looks purple through the translucent skin). It is the contralateral term to venous blood. [citation needed]
Venous blood is deoxygenated blood which travels from the peripheral blood vessels, through the venous system into the right atrium of the heart. Deoxygenated blood is then pumped by the right ventricle to the lungs via the pulmonary artery which is divided in two branches, left and right to the left and right lungs respectively.
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.
In vertebrates, the circulatory system is a system of organs that includes the heart, blood vessels, and blood which is circulated throughout the body. [1] [2] It includes the cardiovascular system, or vascular system, that consists of the heart and blood vessels (from Greek kardia meaning heart, and Latin vascula meaning vessels).
Blood is circulated around the body through blood vessels by the pumping action of the heart. In animals with lungs , arterial blood carries oxygen from inhaled air to the tissues of the body, and venous blood carries carbon dioxide, a waste product of metabolism produced by cells, from the tissues to the lungs to be exhaled.
In the systemic circulation the return is of deoxygenated blood from the organs and tissues of the body, and in the pulmonary circulation the pulmonary veins return oxygenated blood from the lungs to the heart. Almost 70% of the blood in the body is in the veins, and almost 75% of this blood is in the small veins and venules. [7]
The aorta is the largest blood vessel in human body. The aorta is the root systemic artery (i.e., main artery). In humans, it receives blood directly from the left ventricle of the heart via the aortic valve. As the aorta branches and these arteries branch, in turn, they become successively smaller in diameter, down to the arterioles.
Arterial blood, which is already oxygenated, is also already a brighter shade of red— this is the blood seen from a pulsating neck, arm, or leg wound, and it does not change colour upon exposure to air. [4] The colour "blood red", therefore, covers both these states: the darker deoxygenated colour and the brighter oxygenated one.