Difference between Arteries and Veins?

824 views

Difference between Arteries and Veins?

In: Biology

7 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Arteries carry blood “away” from the heart, to the lungs and throughout the body, while veins carry blood back to the heart from the lungs and body for recirculation.

Anonymous 0 Comments

[removed]

Anonymous 0 Comments

Some A-level revision for me here, so here we go:

TL;DR: The most basic difference is Arteries carry oxygenated blood Away from the heart towards the body tissue. VeINs transport deoxygenated blood INto the heart.

More detail: Arteries are large vessels which split into arterioles (smaller arteries) which split into smaller capillaries which transfer oxygen into cells and take out carbon dioxide.

The capillaries then join up into Venules (smaller veins) which join up to form Veins.

The main Artery is the Aorta and the main Vein is the Vena Cava. Imagine Veins and Arteries like Motorways (Highways if you’re from Freedom Land) and Venules/Arterioles like Dual Carriageways (No idea the American Equivalent of these) and Capillaries like residential roads. In essence, Veins and Arteries take lots of blood, super fast to where it needs to go. Arterioles, Venules, Capillaries all take it to more precise locations.

That’s function down, now comes structure. This stuff is a lot more dense so you can skip over it.

Your blood vessels are arranged as so:

The Lumen-the gap in the middle
Smooth Muscle-Muscular tissue that can contract and relax to control the diameter of the blood vessel
Elastic Tissue-this recoils to smooth out pressure surges and prevent blood vessels from bursting
Outer layer-tough to stop bursting

Arteries and Veins have the same overall diameter but the lumen of the Veins is wider so blood travels at lower pressure. The Lumen is wider because the aforementioned tissue above isn’t as thick in veins.

Arteries have a thick smooth muscle layer because they need to contract and relax to control the flow of blood into tissues. Relaxing the muscle means more blood enters tissues (if you’re exercising this will happens as your cells need more oxygen). Arteries also have thicker elastic tissue to cope with higher pressure due to the narrow lumen.

Veins on the other hand, don’t control blood flow into tissue and carry low pressure blood so have thin smooth muscle and elastic tissue. Veins also have valves to prevent blood flowing backwards due to the low pressure.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Arteries carry oxygenated blood from the heart to the rest of the body to fuel it. These are under high pressure and are generally deeper in the body than veins are. Veins carry de-oxygenated blood towards the heart. These are shallower, closer to the surface, than arteries. They have less pressure in them.

Anonymous 0 Comments

You’re a sedentary couch potato who never leaves your house, but you still need to eat.

Blood cells in arteries are the Amazon drivers hauling ass on the highway to deliver you food before you die.

Blood cells in veins are the garbage men leisurely driving through your alley collecting the metric tonne of garbage you generated because Amazon used a suitcase to ship a can of soup.

Now replace “couch potato” with “tissues of your body.”

Anonymous 0 Comments

There’s arterioles and venules and more. But I’ll stick to a general description.

1) arteries go from the heart to your body, veins go back to the heart from the body. This typically means arteries carry oxygenated blood, but not the ones going to the lungs.

2) arteries withstand a lot of pressure as they get the pumping action of the heart. Veins don’t.

3) arteries are deep, veins are superficial. There are exceptions though.

4) arteries have strong, elastic, muscular (diameter can be changed with muscle tone) walls. Veins have weaker, non elastic, and thinner walls with less muscle.

5) arteries don’t have one way valves. Veins do.

Anonymous 0 Comments

One of the biggest differences is the PRESSURE that each type of vessel is expected to withstand. Arteries have thick strong walls designed to withstand very high pressures. Veins have rather thin walls designed to withstand much lower pressures. They might taste different too but I’m not sure about that.