Dr.

Aaijaz Ahmed Khan

Sr. Lecturer in Anatomy
PPSP, USM
Outline
 General introduction of circulatory system
 Vascular tree
 Blood vessel –Branching pattern,
relations, types, structure
 Difference between artery and vein
 Types of circulation
 Anastomosis
 Introduction
 It is a system through which nutrition is transported to
the tissues and waste products are carried to the
excretory system
 It requires a fast, high-capacity system for continuously
transporting to and from tissues of the body
 The medium – the blood ( the vehicle which
maintains a vast chemical traffic through the body
 Blood redistributes and disperses heat
 The circulatory system is fast and has high capacity
- rheological properties of blood
- the large volume of blood
- the mechanical properties of the heart and muscular
arteries
 The circulatory system
 The heart—a central pump (the main motor of the
system)
 Tubes –
Arteries- tubes which carry blood away from the heart
Veins - the tubes loop back to reach the heart again

The heart – a pumping organ

 2 receiving chambers –Atria
 2 pumping chambers - ventricles
 From the centre to the periphery, the
vascular tree shows three main changes:

1. The arteries increase in number

2. Decrease in diameter of the lumen
3. Decreases in the thickness of the wall
( In the smallest arteries (arterioles) the thickness of
the wall represents about half the outer radius of the
vessel, whereas in a large vessel it represents
between one-fifteenth and one-fifth. )
 Vascular System
Vessel Number
• The aorta, emerging from the heart, gives origin by
successive branching to hundreds of arteries of
progressively smaller caliber
• There are about 41106 arterioles and four times as many
capillaries.
• A similar number of venules – forms larger veins – eventually
two great veins form - The superior and the inferior vena
cava - open into the heart ( greater circle )
• A similar pattern is found in the pulmonary circulation (lesser
circle).

Vessel Size
• The aorta of an adult man has an outer diameter of about 30
mm and it is as little as 10 mm in arterioles .
• Veins are a little larger than the corresponding arteries.
• In old age, vessels generally become enlarged and rigid
 Branching Patterns
 An artery divides into two branches of roughly equal size -- terminal branches
 Collateral (side) branches - Branches issued along the course of an artery,
( smaller size)
 Relations of Blood Vessels
 Arteries are usually more deeply situated than veins (limbs)
 In the proximity of the joints of limbs arteries are located on
the flexor surface
 Arteries are usually separated from bones by muscles and
fasciae.
 If in contact with bone they leave an imprint or vascular
groove e.g. the subclavian artery on the first rib
 Deep arteries in the limbs are usually accompanied by two
veins, satellite veins (venae comitantes), enclosed in a
single connective tissue sheath.
 Neurovascular bundle - The artery and the two satellite
veins are often associated with a nerve, in a common
connective tissue sheath
 The close association between arteries & veins in the limbs
allows the exchange of heat to take place and help in
venous return
 Classification of Vessels
 Arteries and veins are identified and classified
according to their anatomical position
 According to their size and structure

Functionally, arteries are often subdivided into

 conducting
 distributing
 resistance vessels
 exchange vessels or microcirculation vessels

Veins - Capacitance vessels

1. Conducting arteries ( elastic arteries )
 The large arteries arising from the heart and their main
branches
 Characterized by the predominantly elastic properties of the
wall.

2. Distributing arteries (Muscular arteries)

 These are smaller arteries reaching the individual organs

 characterized by a conspicuous muscular component in their

wall
 3. Resistance Vessels - Mainly arterioles
 Because of their small size and abundant musculature,

these are the main source of the peripheral resistance to

blood flow,
 They cause a marked drop in the

blood pressure

4. Exchange Vessels
 A collective term for capillaries, sinusoids and post capillary

venules.
 Their wall allows or favours exchange between blood and

the tissue fluid

* Arterioles, capillaries and venules constitute the
microvascular bed, the site of the microcirculation*
Capillaries - fine channels
- lined by endothelium (supported by a
basement membrane)
- diameter varies from 50-100 microns
Two types
Continuous –
endothelium forming
a continuous lining
e.g. in skin , muscles etc.

Fenestrated -pores of 0.1 microns or less diameter

present in the wall e.g. intestine, pancreas, endocrine
glands, renal glomeruli
 Sinusoids
- large irregular blood spaces
- the lumen is wider and irregular
- the wall is very thin
- many phagocyte cells in the endothelium
- connect venule with venule e.g. Liver or
- Arteriole with a venule e.g. spleen , bone
marrow
 2 Types –
1. Discontinuous
– large intercellular gaps
in the wall
e.g. Liver

2. Closed or fenestrated
- complete basal lamina
- no intercellular gaps
e.g. Endocrine glands – parathyroid , suprarenal
Capacitance or Reservoir Vessels
 Larger venules and veins

 large-volume, low-pressure array of these vessels conveying

blood back to the heart.

 The high capacitance of these vessels is due to the

distensibility (compliance) of their wall

 So that the content of blood is large even at

low transmural pressures.
 Structure of the blood vessels
• Their wall is consists of three concentric layers (or
tunicae)
 Tunica intima or innermost layer, whose main
component, the endothelium, lines the entire vascular
tree.
 Tunica media- made of muscle tissue, elastic fibres and
collagen, thickest in muscular arteries, absent in
capillaries and is comparatively thin in veins.
 Tunica adventitia or the adventitia - the outer
wrapping of the vessel, made of connective tissue
nerves and capillaries. The adventitia links the vessels to
the surrounding tissues.
 Differences between arteries and veins
Heading Artery Vein

Wall Thick walled Thin walled

Lumen Small and regular Large & irregular

Valves Absent Present

Blood Oxygenated Deoxygenated

Blood High (120/80 mm of Low ( 10-15 mm of

pressure Hg) Hg)
 Heading Artery Vein

Tunica media muscular and Thin less

thick muscular

Tunica adventitia As thick as media Thickest coat

Collapsibility Does not collapse Collapse when

empty
 Blood Circulation

• Closed system
• provides a continuous circulation of the blood
• The heart - a large, muscular, valved vessel
• It has four chambers: right atrium, left atrium, right ventricle
and left ventricle.
• Each atrium leads into a corresponding ventricle
• The right and left chambers being separated by septa.
• The right and left sides of the heart are thus twin pumps,
• Circulation - a systemic and a pulmonary (double
circulation typical of birds and mammals)
• Systemic circulation - the course of blood from left
ventricle through the body to the right atrium
• Pulmonary circulation - passage from the right ventricle
via the lungs to the left atrium.
• The relatively short pulmonary system offers much less
peripheral resistance than the systemic circulation
• The average output volume of blood from the right and left
sides of the heart is same.
• The superior and inferior venae cavae return
deoxygenated blood to the right atrium blood then
enters the right ventricle the pulmonary trunk to the
lungs.
• In the lungs blood is brought into close proximity to the
inspired air, releasing CO2 and acquiring oxygen.
• Oxygenated blood, returned by the pulmonary veins to the
left atrium, enters the left ventricle, which pumps it into the
aorta for general distribution.
Portal circulation - the blood supplied traverses two sets of
capillaries before returning to the heart
E.g -
 Hepato portal system - one set of capillaries in the
intesitne, pancreas and spleen -drained into the portal
vein - the second set of capillaries, the hepatic sinusoids
in the liver- hepatic vein – inferior vena cava – the heart
 Hypophyseal portal system-
 Renal portal system

Other circulations-
- The system of lymphatic vessels and lymph nodes, which
conduct the lymph from the interstitial spaces to the large
veins of the thorax)
- The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), perilymph, ocular aqueous
humour, synovial fluid
Hepato-portal system Renal portal system
 Anastomosis
communication between two vessels
(artery to artery or artery to vein or vein to vein)

• Collateral circulation- circulation of blood through

anastomotic channels
• End arteries – which do not anastomose with any other
arteries
E.g. central artery of the retina, Splenic artery , renal artery
the brain , the lungs
 Types of anastomosis

Arterial Venous Arterio-venous

- Actual - preferential
- Potential - Simple
- Specialised
• Actual anastomosis – communication between two large
arteries

 An end-to-end anastomosis - Two arteries open directly

into each other
e.g. the vaginal and the ovarian arteries, the right and the
left gastroepiploic arteries, the ulnar artery and the
superficial palmar branch of the radial artery
 Anastomosis by convergence -- Two arteries converge
and merge
e.g.- The vertebral arteries forming the basilar artery.
 A transversal anastomosis - A short artery links two large
arteries transversely
e.g. the anastomosis between the two anterior cerebral
arteries, that between the posterior tibial artery and the
peroneal artery, and between radial and ulnar arteries at
the wrist.
Anastomosis around Knee joint
Potential anastomosis
• Communication between two terminal arterioles
• Collateral circulation can not occur due to sudden
occulusion, if occulusion is slow then arterioles dialate
gradually to save the part e.g. coronary arteries, cortical
branches of cerebral arteries
Venous anatomosis-
• Communications between
two veins
• E.g. dorsal venous arch
of the foot and hand
Arterial anastomosis Venous anastomosis
 Arterio-venous anastomosis or Vascular
Shunts
Communications between arteries and veins where the
capillary circulation is bypassed by the wider channels

Classification
( According to their dimensions, site and complexity )

1. Simple' arteriovenous anastomoses

2. Specialized arteriovenous anastomoses or glomera
3. Preferential thoroughfare channels
1. Simple arterio-venous anastomosis
• Small arteries directly communicate with the veins
• During active stage shunting vessels closed and blood
passes through the capillaries)
• During rest the blood passes directly to venules by
passing capillaries.
• Shunts are under sympathetic control
• E.g. shin of the nose, lips, external ear, coccygeal body,
thyroid gland
• Function- greater heat transfer without a consequent rise
in the metabolic rate
- to promote heat loss from the skin ,
- to warm inspired air
2. Preferential 'Thoroughfare' Channels
• 'thoroughfare' channel connecting the terminal arteriole and
the venule.
• like typical continuous capillaries but has a larger lumen
• Each capillary has at its origin a precapillary sphincter.
• Preferential 'Thoroughfare' Channels and true capillaries
with their sphincters form a functional microcirculatory unit
• The size of the microcirculatory unit varies - in skeletal
muscle each channel gives rise to 20–30 true capillaries,
but in some glandular tissues only one or two
• Function - When functional demand is low, blood flow is
largely limited to the bypass channel, with most precapillary
sphincters closed
• With increasing demand - the opening of many sphincters -
blood flow increase greatly through the true capillaries
Thorough fare channels
3. Specialized arteriovenous anastomoses
(Glomera or Glomus) –
• In the digital pads and nail beds- anastomoses
form a large number of small units termed
'glomera' deep in the corium
• ‘Glomus' - has one or more afferent arteries
- A short distance from its origin it gives off a
number of fine 'periglomeral' branches, then
immediately dialated and makes a sinuous curve
to become ‘S’ shaped and tortuous, before it
enters into a a short funnel-shaped vein
- This vein commences on the deep aspect of the
glomus
Functions of AV anastomosis-
• Cutaneous arteriovenous anastomoses are essential to the
control of general and local body temperature.
• Other functions - regulation of blood pressure, secretion
by epithelioid cells and pressor reception.
• In the newborn child arteriovenous anastomoses - few
and poorly differentiated
• In old age they atrophy, sclerose and diminish in
number

* less efficient temperature regulation in these two

extremes of age *