Ad
related to: blood capillary
Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
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]
Oxygen-poor blood enters the right side of the heart through two large veins. Oxygen-rich blood from the lungs enters through the pulmonary veins on the left side of the heart into the aorta and then reaches the rest of the body. The capillaries are responsible for allowing the blood to receive oxygen through tiny air sacs in the lungs.
The second sector is the capillary sector, which is represented by the capillaries, where substance and gas exchange between blood and interstitial fluid takes place. Finally, the post-capillary sector is represented by the post-capillary venules, which are formed by a layer of endothelial cells that allow free movement of some substances.
Diffusion occurs through the walls of the vessels due to a concentration gradient, allowing the necessary exchange of ions, molecules, or blood cells. The permeability of a capillary wall is determined by the type of capillary and the surface of the endothelial cells. A continuous, tightly spaced endothelial cell lining only permits the ...
Animation of a typical human red blood cell cycle in the circulatory system. This animation occurs at a faster rate (~20 seconds of the average 60-second cycle) and shows the red blood cell deforming as it enters capillaries, as well as the bars changing color as the cell alternates in states of oxygenation along the circulatory system.
The capillaries connect to venules, and the blood then travels back through the network of veins to the venae cavae into the right heart. The micro-circulation — the arterioles, capillaries, and venules —constitutes most of the area of the vascular system and is the site of the transfer of O 2 , glucose , and enzyme substrates into the cells.
The Starling principle holds that fluid movement across a semi-permeable blood vessel such as a capillary or small venule is determined by the hydrostatic pressure and colloid osmotic pressure (oncotic pressure) on either side of a semipermeable barrier that sieves the filtrate, keeping larger molecules such as proteins within the blood stream.
Blood exits the glomerular capillaries by an efferent arteriole instead of a venule, as is seen in the majority of capillary systems (Fig. 4). [3] This provides tighter control over the blood flow through the glomerulus, since arterioles dilate and constrict more readily than venules, owing to their thick circular smooth muscle layer (tunica ...