20: The Cardiovascular System - Blood Vessels and Circulation
Learning Objectives
- Compare and contrast the anatomical structure of arteries, arterioles, capillaries, venules, and veins
- Accurately describe the forces that account for capillary exchange
- List the major factors affecting blood flow, blood pressure, and resistance
- Describe how blood flow, blood pressure, and resistance interrelate
- Discuss how the neural and endocrine mechanisms maintain homeostasis within the blood vessels
- Describe the interaction of the cardiovascular system with other body systems
- Label the major blood vessels of the pulmonary and systemic circulations
- Identify and describe the hepatic portal system
- Describe the development of blood vessels and fetal circulation
- Compare fetal circulation to that of an individual after birth
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- 20.0: Introduction to the Cardiovascular System - Blood Vessels and Circulation
- In this chapter, you will learn about the vascular part of the cardiovascular system, that is, the vessels that transport blood throughout the body and provide the physical site where gases, nutrients, and other substances are exchanged with body cells. When vessel functioning is reduced, blood-borne substances do not circulate effectively throughout the body. As a result, tissue injury occurs, metabolism is impaired, and the functions of every bodily system are threatened.
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- 20.1: Structure and Function of Blood Vessels
- Blood is carried through the body via blood vessels. An artery is a blood vessel that carries blood away from the heart, where it branches into ever-smaller vessels. Eventually, the smallest arteries, vessels called arterioles, further branch into tiny capillaries, where nutrients and wastes are exchanged, and then combine with other vessels that exit capillaries to form venules, small blood vessels that carry blood to a vein, a larger blood vessel that returns blood to the heart.
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- 20.2: Blood Flow, Blood Pressure, and Resistance
- Ventricular contraction ejects blood into the major arteries, resulting in flow from regions of higher pressure to regions of lower pressure, as blood encounters smaller arteries and arterioles, then capillaries, then the venules and veins of the venous system. This section discusses a number of critical variables that contribute to blood flow throughout the body. It also discusses the factors that impede or slow blood flow, a phenomenon known as resistance.
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- 20.3: Capillary Exchange
- Glucose, amino acids, and ions—including sodium, potassium, calcium, and chloride—use transporters to move through specific channels in the membrane by facilitated diffusion. Glucose, ions, and larger molecules may also leave the blood through intercellular clefts. Larger molecules can pass through the pores of fenestrated capillaries, and even large plasma proteins can pass through the great gaps in the sinusoids.
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- 20.4: Homeostatic Regulation of the Vascular System
- To maintain homeostasis in the cardiovascular system and provide adequate blood to the tissues, blood flow must be redirected continually to the tissues as they become more active. In a very real sense, the cardiovascular system engages in resource allocation, because there is not enough blood flow to distribute blood equally to all tissues simultaneously. For example, when an individual is exercising, more blood will be directed to skeletal muscles, the heart, and the lungs.
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- 20.5: Circulatory Pathways
- Virtually every cell, tissue, organ, and system in the body is impacted by the circulatory system. This includes the generalized and more specialized functions of transport of materials, capillary exchange, maintaining health by transporting white blood cells and various immunoglobulins (antibodies), hemostasis, regulation of body temperature, and helping to maintain acid-base balance. In addition to these shared functions, many systems enjoy a unique relationship with the circulatory system.
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- 20.6: Development of Blood Vessels and Fetal Circulation
- In a developing embryo,the heart has developed enough by day 21 post-fertilization to begin beating. Circulation patterns are clearly established by the fourth week of embryonic life. It is critical to the survival of the developing human that the circulatory system forms early to supply the growing tissue with nutrients and gases, and to remove waste products. Development of these circulatory elements within the embryo itself begins approximately 2 days later.