Blood Vessels

Vocabulary flashcards covering the characteristics and functions of arteries, arterioles, veins, and capillaries based on lecture notes.

Arteries

Blood vessels that carry blood AWAY from the heart, featuring thick muscular walls with elastic tissues and blood under high pressure causing rapid blood flow.

Pulse

A sensation felt in the body caused by blood being under high pressure in the arteries.

Arterioles

Branches that come off the main arteries containing smooth muscles controlled by the nervous system to regulate blood flow.

Veins

Blood vessels that carry blood TO the heart, featuring thin walls, little elastic tissue, a larger lumen, and valves to prevent backflow.

Lumen

The space inside a vein.

Valves

Structures present in veins to prevent the backflow of blood.

Capillaries

Vessels that connect arterioles and venules with walls made of one cell thick endothelium and no muscle.

Endothelium

The material that makes up the walls of capillaries, which is only one cell thick.

Red blood cell movement in capillaries

Capillaries are just large enough for one red blood cell to move through.