Human Venous System

Arteries, Veins & Capillaries

Arteries Blood Direction From heart

Capillaries Joins arteries to veins None None

Veins To heart

Muscle Layer Semilunar Valves Pressure Oxygen Concentration

Thick elastic None

Thin elastic Present Very low with pulse Deoxygenated

High with pulse Less, no pulse Oxygenated Mixed

It must be remembered that:

The

pulmonary artery carries deoxygenated blood, as it is coming from the right ventricle, to the lungs. An arteriole is a small artery and a venule is a small vein.

 The

pulmonary vein is deoxygenated, as it carries oxygenated blood from the heart into the left atrium. The arteries have "pulse" which means that the blood move in spurts, according to when the heart contracts. When the blood enters capillaries, it moves smoothly, and so it carries this flow on to the veins.

Looking at the image you can see that they have different wall thicknesses. The capillary wall is only 1 cell thick - this is to allow substances to diffuse across it (i.e. to give oxygen to cells and retrieve the CO2 from cells. One of the reason the blood is at higher pressure in the arteries is that there is a thick muscle layer and this creates a small volume for the blood to pass through. The thick muscle layer is there to withstand the high pressure.

 In

the veins, the semilunar valves stop the blood from flowing backwards, as it is traveling at a very low pressure and is often moving against gravity. The contraction of the muscles also helps the blood in the veins to be pushed up.

 This

image shows how veins have valves which stop the blood from flowing backwards. They are needed as there is so little pressure in them. Contraction of muscles also helps the blood to be pushed up the vein.

The Systemic Microcirculation

The microcirculation is made up of the smallest blood vessels; the arterioles, the capillaries and the venules. The structure of the microcirculation varies greatly between different tissues and so it is difficult to characterise it generally. One feature common to all capillary beds is that the network of vessels is much more complex than the relatively simple bifurcating, tree structure of the arteries and veins.

The main resistance to flow lie in the arterioles and capillaries. The arterioles at particular sites are surrounded by muscle, the prearteriole sphincters, which can change the local resistance to flow by contracting. This is the mechanism that controls the flow of blood to individual organs and regions. Because of the large pressure drop in the arterioles, the capillary pressure is relatively low compared to arterial pressure but larger than venous pressure.

The Systemic Veins

 The

venous system is roughly parallel to the arterial system. With a few exceptions, the corresponding artery and vein lie next to each other with the vein being slightly larger cross section than the artery. 60-70% of the total blood volume is in the venous system.

About

 The

walls of the veins, like those of the arteries, are covered by a single layer of endothelial cells. vein walls are much thinner than the arterial walls containing little elastin or smooth muscle, reflecting the much lower pressure in the veins.

The

 On

unique feature of veins is the existence of valves that are oriented to allow flow toward the heart and prevent back flow toward the periphery. These valves are crucial to the operation of the muscle pump whereby veins which are embedded in skeletal muscle are compressed when the muscle contracts, pushing blood toward the heart.

 This

mechanism is very important in the return of blood from the leg to the heart when standing. may be of interest that giraffes have valves similar to human venous valves in the arteries of their neck.

It

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