Blood Vessels & Circulation

by: Mohamad Taufik Hidayat b. Baharuldin Unit of Physiology, Department of Human Anatomy, FPSK, UPM

Introduction:
There are five types of blood vessels

arteries

arterioles capillaries venules

veins

Carry blood away from the heart

Carry blood from tissues to the heart

E.g. aorta, pulmonary trunk

Types of Blood Vessels

1. Arteries are blood vessels carry blood away from the heart to organs
and tissues Elastic (conducting) arteries, > elastic fibers Arteries Muscular (distributing) arteries, > smooth muscle tissue

Elastic arteries

walls stretch during systole & recoil during diastole e.g. aorta, brachiocephalic, common carotid Conduct blood to medium-sized musc. arteries

Distribute blood to various part of body

Muscular arteries e.g. axillary, brachial, radial, femoral

branch into smaller arterioles

Arteries & arterioles determine (1) amount of blood going to tissue/ organ (2) regulate BP

- All arteries carry oxygenated blood except pulmonary trunk and pulmonary arteries.

Anatomic considerations
- Central canal of all blood vessels; lumen - Surrounding it is a thick wall; 3 layers called tunica 1. Tunica intima 2. Tunica media; thickest layer; collagenous fibers, connective tissue, smooth muscle & elastic fibers 3. Tunica adventitia; collagen & elastic fibers, nerves & lymphatic, nourished by vasa vasorum - Strong elastic wall adjust great pressure created by ventricle systole arteries stretch when blood ejected storing energy recoil convert potential energy to kinetic energy

2. Arterioles
Covered by three tunicae

Wall contain more smooth muscle

Control blood flow from arteries into capillaries - organ If necessary, arteriole can dilate to increase blood flow to capillaries 400% Terminal arteriole supplied with sympathetic nerves smooth muscle contraction lumen constrict

3. Capillaries

- Arterioles branch out form capillaries

- Composed of single layer endothelial cell

- Capillaries are the smallest & numerous blood vessels in the body

- Abundance of capillaries make enormous surface area for exchange of gases, fluids, nutrient, waste between blood & cell

Types of Capillaries

1. Continuous capillaries in skeletal muscle

2. Fenestrated capillaries in kidney, endocrine gland

3. Discontinuous capillaries in liver, spleen

4. Venules
- Blood drains from capillaries to venules - Transition from capillaries to venules occurs gradually - Their walls are thinner near the capillary end, and thicker as they progress toward the heart

5. Veins
- Venules join together to form veins - Walls of veins contain same 3 layers but tunica media is much thinner - Venous walls contain less elastic tissue, collagenous tissue and smooth muscle

Very distensible and compressible

- Also nourished by vasa vasorum - Contain pair of semilunar bicuspid valvespermit blood flow in one direction

Arteriovenous Anastomoses
- Short channels connect arterioles to venules, bypassing the capillaries

- Thick muscular walls, abundantly innervated vasoconstrictor nerve fibers

Control heat loss

Blood Distribution

- Total amount of blood in the circulatory system is known as blood volume - 5 L in average adult - 80-90% in the systemic circulation, the rest in pulmonary circulation - Of the blood in systemic circul. 75% in the veins, 20% in the arteries and 5% in the capillaries

Blood Flow through Blood Vessels

- Blood flow thru a vessel is determined by the pressure gradient and vascular resistance - The flow of blood can be calculated by formula Q= P/R, where Q is blood flow, P is pressure difference between the two ends of the vessel, and R is the vascular resistance

100 mmHg

100 mmHg

Pressure gradient
100 mmHg 10 mmHg

Resistance to blood flow

- Vascular resistance is the opposition to blood flow due to friction between blood & blood vessels walls

Size of the lumen

Resistance depends on

Total blood vessel length

size of lumen, resistance to

blood flow

Blood viscosity

Total length resistance to

blood flow

viscosity,

resistance to
blood flow

Cardiovascular Regulatory Mechanisms

Human and mammals have evolved their CVS regulatory mechanisms

These mechanisms are needed to:

Increase blood supply to active tissue

Increase or decrease blood heat loss from the body thru blood redistribute During hemorrhage still maintain blood flow to brain & and heart

All of those can be achieved by

Local Regulatory Mechanisms

Systemic Regulatory Mechanisms

Hormones

Nervous System

Local Regulatory Mechanisms

1. Autoregulation tissue regulate their own blood flow, based on myogenic theory of autoregulation. - Blood vessels distended, vascular smooth muscle contract

2. Vasodilator metabolites decrease in O2 tension and pH produce vasodilation. Increase in CO2 tension also dilate the vessels.

Systemic Regulatory Mechanisms

Hormones
1. Vasodilator hormones kinins, vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) & atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP)
2. Vasoconstrictor hormones vasopressin, NAD, Adr and angiotensin II

Systemic Regulatory Mechanisms

Neural Regulatory Mechanisms
a) Innervations of the blood vessels - Blood vessels in the heart, lungs, kidney & uterus receive noradrenergic & cholinergic innervations - No tonic discharge from the vasodilator fibers - The vasoconstrictor fibers have some tonic activity - Sympathetic nerve are cut, the blood vessels dilate.

Systemic Regulatory Mechanisms

Neural Regulatory Mechanisms
b) Cardiac Innervations - Impulse in the noradrenergic sympathetic nerves to the heart increase the cardiac rate (chronotropic effect) & force of cardiac contraction (inotropic effect). - Impulse in the cholinergic vagal cardiac fibers decrease the heart rate.

- In human and at rest, there is a good deal of tonic vagal discharge

- If the vagi are cut, HR increase from 70 to 150-180 bpm