Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The rate of mean blood flow depends on both blood pressure and the resistance to flow presented by the blood vessels. Mean blood pressure decreases as the circulating blood moves away from the heart through arteries and capillaries due to viscous losses of energy.
In humans, the only significant example is the hepatic portal vein which combines from capillaries around the gastrointestinal tract where the blood absorbs the various products of digestion; rather than leading directly back to the heart, the hepatic portal vein branches into a second capillary system in the liver.
In the lungs, special mechanisms have been adapted to meet the needs of increased necessity of blood flow during exercise. When the heart rate increases and more blood must flow through the lungs, capillaries are recruited and are also distended to make room for increased blood flow. This allows blood flow to increase while resistance decreases.
Arterioles carry the blood to the capillaries, which are not innervated, have no smooth muscle, and are about 5-8 μm in diameter. Blood flows out of the capillaries into the venules, which have little smooth muscle and are 10-200 μm. The blood flows from the venules into the veins.
Venous return (VR) is the flow of blood back to the heart. Under steady-state conditions, venous return must equal cardiac output (Q), when averaged over time because the cardiovascular system is essentially a closed loop. Otherwise, blood would accumulate in either the systemic or pulmonary circulations.
The human hepatic portal system delivers about three-fourths of the blood going to the liver.The final common pathway for transport of venous blood from spleen, pancreas, gallbladder and the abdominal portion of the gastrointestinal tract [2] (with the exception of the inferior part of the anal canal and sigmoid colon) is through the hepatic portal vein.
An increase in Pi causes extraalveolar blood vessels to reduce in caliber, in turn causing blood flow to decrease (extraalveolar blood vessels are those blood vessels outside alveoli). Intraalveolar blood vessels (pulmonary capillaries) are thin walled vessels adjacent to alveoli which are subject to the pressure changes described by zones 1-3.
Capillaries (smallest type of blood vessels) Venules; Veins. Large collecting vessels, such as the subclavian vein, the jugular vein, the renal vein and the iliac vein. Venae cavae (the two largest veins, carry blood into the heart). Sinusoids. Extremely small vessels located within bone marrow, the spleen and the liver.