KINE 3012 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Endothelium, B-Tree, Blood Vessel
3 Dec 2013
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Document Summary
Left ventricle --> arterial side of the system. Blood vessels that take blood from one spot to another are usually arteries because these have to be able to withstand pressure. Veins have to have lower resistance in order to maintain blood pressure. Millions capillaries optimized to allow the exchange of oxygen/nutrients. Blood picked up by the venules after the blood capillaries *venules also part of the microcirculation* Then blood goes back into the veins *macrocirculation* Veins are considered a reservoir of blood, can increase cardiac output if necessary. The vascular system is like a inverted tree, start with a trunk *aorta*, continuously branch out to many more blood vessels as it gets smaller. Blood vessels composed of many different cell types. All endothelial cells are connected to connective tissue or extracellular matrix; large group of proteins that provide a meshwork that both create structure and points where the cells can attach to, collagen proteins or elastin proteins.
