Arteries Veins and Capillaries

Artery

• Artery has a thick wall

• Thin smooth inner endothelial wall - prevents blood from clotting inside vessels

• Thick muscle/elastic fibre layer - to stretch to accomodate pressure changes

• Tough outer layer of collagen fibres - prevents rupturing

• Lumen size is small in comparison to it's thick wall - this to maintain high blood pressure

• It's function is to carry oxygenated blood to all major organs in the body.

• They subdivide and branch out into arterioles - become finer and smaller

• Have no valves, except in the aorta and pulmonary artery - prevents blood flowing back to the heart.

Vein

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