Vascular Physiology

NURUL PARAMITA
MARCH 2021
Outline 01 Pressure, Flow, Resistance

Vascular Distensibility and Functions of the

02 Arterial and Venous System

03 Microcirculation and Lymphatic System

04 Local and Humoral Control of Tissue Blood

Flow
Pressure, Flow, and Resistance
 What is cardiovascular system?

A closed system of passive

It participates actively in:
conduits to deliver blood to the
• regulation of blood flow to the
tissues, providing essential
organs
nutrients and oxygen to the
• delivery of regulatory hormones
cells for metabolism and
from the endocrine glands to their
removing carbon dioxide and
sites of action in target tissues
waste products from the cells
• regulation of body temperature
Circulation

Systemic circulation
Pulmonary circulation

The left heart and right heart function

in series --> blood is pumped
sequentially from the left heart to the
systemic circulation, to the right
heart, to the pulmonary circulation,
and then back to the left heart.
Functional part of vessels
components

Arteries
• To transport blood under high
pressure to the tissues
• Thick-walled structures with
extensive development of elastic
tissue, smooth muscle, and
connective tissue
• The volume of blood contained in
the arteries is called the stressed
volume
Functional part of vessels
components

Arterioles
• act as control conduits through
which blood is released into the
capillaries
• have an extensive development of
smooth muscle, and they are the
site of highest resistance to blood
flow
• tonically active
• extensively innervated by
sympathetic adrenergic nerve fibers
Functional part of vessels
components

Capillary
• thin-walled structures lined with a
single layer of endothelial cells,
which is surrounded by a basal
lamina
• to exchange fluid, nutrients,
electrolytes, hormones, and other
substances between the blood and
the interstitial fluid
Functional part of vessels
components

Venule
• collect blood from the capillaries and
gradually combine into progressively
larger veins
Veins
• modest amount of elastic tissue,
smooth muscle, and connective
tissue
• conduits for transport of blood from
the venules back to the heart
Functional part of vessels
components

Veins
• serve as a major reservoir of extra
blood
• the volume of blood contained in the
veins is called the unstressed
volume
• innervated by sympathetic nerve
fibers.
Distribution of blood (in
percentage of total blood) in
different parts of the circulatory
system
Normal blood pressures in different portions of the circulatory system
 Ohm's Law

Blood Flow

Blood Flow rate :

the volume of blood that passes a given
point in the system per unit time (L/min
or ml/min).
Blood flow down a pressure
gradient

The magnitude of blood flow:

• directly proportional to the size of
the pressure difference (Δ P) or
pressure gradient.
The direction of blood flow:
• determined by the direction of the
pressure gradient --> always from
high to low pressure.
Blood flow down a pressure gradient
Blood flow and resistance

01 02 03
Inversely proportional to Described by the The total resistance
resistance Poiseuille equation depends on whether the
vessels are arranged in
series or in parallel
Poiseuille’s Equation
Influence of radius on resistance
Series and Parallel Resistance
 01 The total resistance of the system arranged
in series is equal to the sum of the individual
Series Resistance resistances

Of the various resistances in series,

02 arteriolar resistance is the greatest

03 The total flow through each level of the

system is the same

04 The pressure decreases progressively as

blood flows through each sequential
component.
Parallel Resistance

• The distribution of blood flow

among the various major arteries
branching off the aorta
• The total resistance is less than
any of the individual resistances
• The flow through each organ is a
fraction of the total blood flow
• There is no loss of pressure in the
major arteries and that mean
pressure in each major artery will
be approximately the same as
mean pressure in the aorta.
Vascular Distensibility and Functions of
the Arterial and Venous System
Vascular 01 All blood vessels are distensible
distensibility

The most distensible are the veins (8 times

02 than arteries)

A given increase in pressure causes 8 times

03 as much increase in blood in a vein as in an
artery of comparable size
Compliance of Blood Vessels

• The volume of blood the vessel can

hold at a given pressure
• Compliance is equal to distenbility
times volume
• The compliance of a systemic vein is
about 24 times of corresponding
artery (vein is 8 times distensible
and 3 times in volume than artery)
Arterial Pressure

• The driving pressure created by the

pumping action of the heart -->
pulsatile in nature
• A single value—the mean arterial
pressure (MAP) represent the
driving pressure
• Mean arterial pressure: Diastolic
pressure + 1/3 pulse pressure
• Determinant factors of MAP:
⚬ Cardiac Output
⚬ Peripheral Resistance
• Pulse pressure: Systolic pressure –
Diastolic pressure
Arterial Pressure Pulsations

The greater the compliance of the

segment, the slower the velocity of
pressure pulse transmission --> slow
transmission in aorta; much faster
transmission in small arteries

Damping of the pressure pulse caused

by:
• resistance to blood flow
• compliance of the vessel
Arterial Pressure Pulsations

Two major factors affect the pulse

pressure:
• Stroke volume of the heart
• Compliance of arterial tree

Some pathophysiological conditions

cause abnormal contours of the pulse
pressure
Regulation of Blood Pressure

• Short-Term Regulation (within seconds)

• Long-Term Regulation (within minutes/days)
Short-term Regulation

Baroreceptor Reflex
• Receptors: Baroreceptors à stretch
receptors
• The wall of each internal carotid
artery slightly above the carotid
bifurcation (the carotid sinus)
• The wall of the aortic arch
Short-term Regulation

Baroreceptor Reflex
• The baroreceptors respond much
more to a rapidly changing pressure
than to a stationary pressure.
• A pressure buffer system à
because opposes either increases or
decreases in arterial pressure
 Short-Term Regulation
Carotid and Aortic Chemoreceptors
• Not a powerful arterial pressure
controller until the arterial pressure
falls below 80 mm Hg.
• When arterial PO2 decrease à firing
rate of afferent nerves from the carotid
and aortic bodies increase and
activates sympathetic vasoconstrictor
centers.
Low Pressure Receptors
• In atria and pulmonary arteries
• Minimizing arterial pressure changes in
response to changes in blood volume
• Reflex dilation of the afferent arterioles
in the kidneys
• Transmit signals to the hypothalamus
to decrease secretion of antidiuretic
hormone (ADH)
Long-Term Regulation
Long-Term Regulation
Long-Term Regulation
Long-Term Regulation
Venous System
Factors that facilitates venous return
Microcirculation and Lymphatic System
Diffusion through capillary
membrane

• Lipid soluble – Water soluble non

lipid soluble
• Molecular size
• Concentration differences
01 02
Capillary Hydrostatic Interstitial Fluid
Pressure Hydrostatic Pressure

Capillary filtration (Starling Forces)

03 04
Plasma Colloid Osmotic Interstitial Fluid Colloid
Pressure Osmotic Pressure
Capillary Filtration

Net filtration > net absorption

Returned to circulation by lymphatic system
Velocity of flow

• The distance a fixed volume of

blood travels in a given period of
time.
• Velocity of flow in the capillary is
the slowest
Lymphatic System

• An accessory route through which fluid can flow

from the interstitial spaces into the blood
• Can carry proteins and large particulate matter
away from the tissue spaces
Lymphatic System

Factors that affect lymph flow:

• contraction of surrounding skeletal muscles
• movement of part of the body
• pulsation of arteries adjacents to the lymphatics
• compression of tissue by objects outside of the
body
Local and Humoral Control of Tissue Blood Flow
Distribution of blood

Very large blood flow to some organs,

very little to others
Mechanism of local
blood flow control
01 Intrinsic
• physical response
• chemical response

02 Extrinsic
• neural
• hormonal
Mechanism of local
blood flow control
01 Acute control
• rapid changes in local vasodilation or
vasoconstriction of arteriols,
metarterioles and precapillary
sphincters

02 Long term control

• slow, controlled changes over a period
of days, weeks, months
Acute control of
local blood flow

01 Vasodilator theory:
the greater the rate of metabolism or the
less the availability of oxygen à the
greater the rate of formation of
vasodilator subtances
Acute control of 02 Oxygen demand theory:
when oxygen concentration in tissue
local blood flow rises,precapillary and metarteriol
sphincter would close, and vice versa
Acute control of local blood flow
Special example of acute control of local blood flow
Acute control of
local blood flow

Autoregulatioan
• Making appropriate adjustments in
arteriolar radius
• Keep tissue blood flow fairly constant
despite rather wide deviations in mean
arterial driving pressure
• Metabolic mechanism and Myogenic
mechanism
Acute control of
local blood flow

Endothelin-derived Relaxing and

Constricting Factors
• Nitric oxide
• Endothelin
Long-term blood flow regulation

• Angiogenesis
• Collateral circulation
• Remodeling

Stimulus:
• metabolic activities
• blood flow
• blood pressure
Humoral control of 01 Vasoconstrictor:
• Norepinephrine
tissue blood flow
• Epinephrine
• Angiotensin II
control by substances secreted
• Vasopressin
or absorbed into the body • Calcium ion
fluids, such as hormones and
locally produced factors
02 Vasodilator:
• Bradykinin
• Histamine
• Potassium ion
• Magnesium ion
• Hydrogen ion
• Carbondioxide
Effect arteriolar radius to
Total Peripheral Resistance
References

• Hall JE, Hall ME. Guyton and Hall

Textbook of Medical Physiology. 14th Ed.
Canada: Elsevier; 2021. p 169 - 228.
• Sherwood L. Human Physiology From
Cells to System. 9th Ed. Canada:
Cengage Learning; 2014. p 335 - 379
• Silverthorn, DU. Human Physiology An
Integrated Approach. 6th Ed. USA:
Pearson; 2013. p 508 - 543
Thank You