Читать книгу Understanding Anatomy and Physiology in Nursing - John Knight - Страница 108

Arteries are muscular, pulsatile, elastic blood vessels that circulate blood under high pressure with most carrying oxygenated blood away from the heart. The aorta is the major systemic artery and has a greater stretch than other arteries because its walls have a higher elastin content. It carries blood directly away from the left ventricle of the heart into the systemic circuit. On exiting the left ventricle, the aorta curves over the superior portion of the heart (aortic arch), delivering blood into its descending portion which branches and supplies blood to the major abdominal and pelvic organs. The major arteries of the body are typically named according to the organ or region that they supply, e.g. the hepatic artery supplies blood to the liver, the splenic artery to the spleen and the renal arteries to the kidneys. The large arteries continually subdivide into smaller and smaller vessels before eventually terminating in arterioles which are the smallest arteries of the body.