The cardiovascular system consists of three types of blood vessel: arteries, veins, and capillaries, which are responsible for carrying blood through the body. These differ in size and function; although, the structure of each is related to its function (Boyle and Senior, 2008).
The function of arteries and veins is to carry blood from one organ to another, whereas capillaries to carry blood within organs. They have comparable structure but the layers of tissue in the walls of each along with the size of the lumen vary.
Arteries are vessels that carry blood away from the heart towards other organs of the body. The largest artery is aorta. Arteries branch into smaller arterioles, which branch into tiny capillaries. The arteries are muscular tubes and their walls consist of three layers of tissue to provide function. The innermost layer is …show more content…
The muscle fibres also contract to push the blood along and keep it flowing. Furthermore arteries have narrow lumen that maintains a high pressure and ensures the blood flows quickly to all parts of the body.
The function of the arteries is to carry oxygenated blood (except pulmonary arteries, which carry blood to the lungs for oxygenation) to organs and cells in the body. Because of this, arterial blood has a bright red color and flows away from the heart.
Veins are blood vessels that return blood at low pressure to the heart. The largest vein in the human body is vena cava. The walls of the veins are thinner and lumen larger than arteries but have the same three layers of tissue. They are thinner because there is less muscle and elastic tissue in the tunica media, as veins carry blood at lower pressure than arteries. Because the walls of the veins are thinner and less rigid than arteries, veins can hold more blood (Wilson, Waugh and Ross,