ENRIQUE DELGADO & DIEGO HERNÁNDEZ

BLOOD VESSEL OVERVIEW

ARTERIES

Function: Transport blood all throughout the body from the heart.
Walls: Tunica intima, tunica media, tunica adventitia.
- The tunica intima has endothelium facing the lumen, which allows for a smooth lining.
- The tunica intima and adventitia have an elastic membrane that helps cope and
maintain the changing pressure of the system (with the heart’s pumps). Tunica media
also has elastic fibres.
- The tunica media has smooth muscle that contracts and relaxes to maintain blood
pressure and keep the blood cells traveling throughout the body (not pumping the
blood! Only the heart does that!).
- Diameter can be greater than 10mm.
ENRIQUE DELGADO & DIEGO HERNÁNDEZ

VEINS

Function: Transport blood back to the upper chambers of the heart (atria).
Walls: Tunica intima, tunica media, tunica adventitia.
- Veins have less pressure than arteries, which explains why the walls in the veins are
thinner. That also allows for the lumen of the vein to be bigger and therefore carry
more blood.
- The walls also don’t have as much connective tissue or smooth muscle as its artery
cousin.
- Veins have valves which prevents blood cells from going back (backflow).
- Otherwise, the walls are the same as the arteries.
ENRIQUE DELGADO & DIEGO HERNÁNDEZ

CAPILLARIES

Function: Transition period between arteries and veins, where blood passes by tissue cells. The
blood is able to exchange materials through diffusion and active transport with the tissue cells,
forming tissue fluid. This is reabsorbed into the blood at the venous end.
Walls: Endothelial cells
- The capillaries are much smaller than the veins and the arteries, because of the fact
that the arteries divide finely to spread blood through all the cells, forming capillaries.
- Capillaries have no muscle or elastin fibres.
- Diameter is between 2 and 10 μm.
- The walls are one cell thick, lumen is 5 μm.