Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
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).
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.
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.
It is mainly composed of collagen and, in arteries, is supported by external elastic lamina. The collagen serves to anchor the blood vessel to nearby organs, giving it stability. The three layers of the blood vessels are: an inner tunica intima, a middle tunica media, and an outer tunica externa.
The circulatory system consists of the heart and blood vessels (arteries, veins and capillaries). The heart propels the circulation of the blood, which serves as a "transportation system" to transfer oxygen, fuel, nutrients, waste products, immune cells and signaling molecules (i.e. hormones) from one part of the body to another.
The anatomy of arteries can be separated into gross anatomy, at the macroscopic level, and microanatomy, which must be studied with a microscope.The arterial system of the human body is divided into systemic arteries, carrying blood from the heart to the whole body, and pulmonary arteries, carrying deoxygenated blood from the heart to the lungs.
Vasa vasorum are more frequent in veins than arteries. [2] Some authorities hypothesize that the vasa vasorum would be more abundant in large veins, as partial oxygen pressure and osmotic pressure is lower in veins. This would lead to more vasa vasorum needed to supply the vessels sufficiently.
The term angiogenesis denotes the formation of new capillaries from pre-existing blood vessels and already-present endothelium which divides. [17] The small capillaries lengthen and interconnect to establish a network of vessels, a primitive vascular network that vascularises the entire yolk sac , connecting stalk , and chorionic villi .