BIOC34H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Hematocrit, Pulmonary Artery, Blood Vessel
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Resistance: the degree to which flow is hindered. Pulmonary arterial pressure is the driving force of the pulmonary circuit while map is the driving force of the systemic circulation. Total peripheral resistance = resistance of the blood vessels in the entire circulation, as a whole. If you want to increase flow in general, systemically, you want to increase blood pressure, by altering overall resistance to flow in the entire circulatory system. Factors affecting vascular resistance: vessel radius*** (primary regulator) W adrenergic control: blood vessel length (during growth) The primary thing affecting the resistance to flow is the radius of that vessel (controlled by adrenergic receptors and circulating adrenaline and noradrenaline). It is on the arterioles and the beginning of capillaries that we start to see these rings of muscle that are important for controlling diameter altering resistance to flow.
