Facts about Arteries
The larger arteries (over one centimeter in diameter) are generally elastic and the smaller ones (0.1 to ten millimeters) tend to be muscular.
The pulmonary arteries carry deoxygenated blood that has just returned from the body to the lungs, where carbon dioxide is exchanged for oxygen.
Arteries include both large and minute blood vessels that transport blood away from the heart.
Among the ancient Greeks, the arteries were considered to be "air holders" that were responsible for the transport of air to the tissues and were connected to the trachea.
The anatomy of arteries can be separated into gross anatomy, at the macroscopic level, and microscopic anatomy, which must be studied with the aid of a microscope.
All arteries, with the exception of the pulmonary and umbilical arteries, carry oxygenated blood to the tissues.
Systemic arteries can be subdivided into two types: muscular and elastic.
Arterioles, the smallest of the true arteries, help regulate blood pressure by the variable contraction of the smooth muscle of their walls, and deliver blood to the capillaries.
Over time, elevated arterial blood sugar, lipoprotein, cholesterol, pressure, smoking, among other factors, are all involved in damaging both the endothelium and walls of the arteries.
William Harvey described and popularized the modern concept of the circulatory system and the roles of arteries and veins in the seventeenth century.
The arterial system of the human body is divided into systemic arteries, carrying blood from the heart to the whole body, and pulmonary arteries, carrying blood from the heart to the lungs.
To withstand and adapt to the pressures within, arteries are surrounded by varying thicknesses of smooth muscle which have extensive elastic and inelastic connective tissues.
Systemic arteries deliver blood to the arterioles, and then to the capillaries, where nutrients and gases are exchanged.
The arteries and veins function harmoniously as complementary components in the circulatory system's rhythmic flow cycle orchestrated by the beating heart.