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Arteriole

 
Arteriole

 
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Arteriole
 
 
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An arteriole is a small diameter blood vessel
Blood vessel

The blood vessels are the part of the circulatory system that transport blood throughout the body. There are three major types of blood vessels: the artery, which carry the blood away from the heart, the capillary, which enable the actual exchange of water and chemicals between the blood and the tissues; and the veins, which carry blood from...
 that extends and branches out from an artery
Artery

Arteries are blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart. All arteries, with the exception of the pulmonary and umbilical arteries, carry oxygenated blood....
 and leads to capillaries
Capillary

Capillaries are the smallest of a body's blood vessels, measuring 5-10 micrometre in diameter, which connect arterioles and venules, and enable the interchange of water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and many other nutrient and waste chemical substances between blood and surrounding tissue s....
.

Arterioles have thin muscular
MUSCLE

MUSCLE is public domain, multiple sequence alignment software for protein and nucleotide sequences.MUSCLE is integrated into UGENE bioinformatics tool as a plugin....
 walls (usually only one to two layers of smooth muscle) and are the primary site of vascular resistance
Vascular resistance

Vascular resistance is a term used to define the resistance to flow that must be overcome to push blood through the circulatory system. The resistance offered by the peripheral circulation is known as the systemic vascular resistance , while the resistance offered by the vasculature of the lungs is known as the pulmonary vascular re...
. Arterioles receive autonomic nervous system
Autonomic nervous system

The autonomic nervous system is the part of the peripheral nervous system that acts as a control system, maintaining human homeostasis in the body....
 innervation and respond to various circulating hormones in order to regulate their diameter.

Blood pressure
Blood pressure

Blood pressure is the pressure exerted by circulating blood on the walls of blood vessels, and constitutes one of the principal vital signs. The pressure of the circulating blood decreases as it moves away from the heart through artery and capillary, and toward the heart through veins....
 in the arteries supplying the body is a result of the work needed to pump the cardiac output
Cardiac output

Cardiac output is the volume of blood being pumped by the heart, in particular by a ventricle in a minute. This is measured in dm3 min-1 ....
 (the flow of blood pumped by the heart) through the vascular resistance, usually termed total peripheral resistance
Total peripheral resistance

Vasculature throughout the entire body can be thought of as two separate circuits - one is the systemic circulation, while the other is the pulmonary circulation....
 by physicians and researchers.

up and down fluctuation of the arterial blood pressure is due to the pulsatile nature of the cardiac output
Cardiac output

Cardiac output is the volume of blood being pumped by the heart, in particular by a ventricle in a minute. This is measured in dm3 min-1 ....
 and determined by the interaction of the stroke volume
Stroke volume

In cardiovascular physiology, stroke volume is the volume of blood pumped from one ventricles of the heart of the heart with each beat. It is calculated by subtracting the volume of blood in the ventricle at the end of a beat from the volume of blood just prior to the beat ....
 versus the volume and elasticity of the major arteries.

In a healthy vascular system the endothelium
Endothelium

The endothelium is the thin layer of cell that line the interior surface of blood vessels, forming an interface between circulating blood in the lumen and the rest of the vessel wall....
, inner lining of arterioles and other blood vessels, is smooth and the vessel is relaxed.

This healthy condition is promoted by the ample production of nitric oxide
Nitric oxide

Nitric oxide or nitrogen monoxide is a chemical compound with chemical formula NitrogenOxygen. This gas is an important signaling molecule in the body of mammals, including humans, and is an extremely important intermediate in the chemical industry....
 in the endothelium, which requires a biochemical reaction regulated by a complex balance of polyphenol
Polyphenol

Polyphenols are a group of chemical substances found in plants, characterized by the presence of more than one phenol unit or building block per molecule....
s, various nitric oxide synthase
Nitric oxide synthase

Nitric oxide synthases are present among eukaryotic enzymes as dimeric, calmodulin-dependent or calmodulin-containing cytochrome p450-like hemoprotein that combine reductase and oxygenase catalytic domains in one dimer, bear both flavin adenine dinucleotide and flavin mononucleotide , and carry out a 5`-electron oxidation of non-aromatic a...
 enzyme
Enzyme

Enzymes are biomolecules that catalysis chemical reactions. Almost all enzymes are proteins. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process are called Substrate , and the enzyme converts them into different molecules, the products....
s and L-arginine
Arginine

Arginine is an a-amino acid. The Optical isomerism is one of the 20 most common natural amino acids. Its codons are CGU, CGC, CGA, CGG, AGA, and AGG....
.






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Illu Capillary
An arteriole is a small diameter blood vessel
Blood vessel

The blood vessels are the part of the circulatory system that transport blood throughout the body. There are three major types of blood vessels: the artery, which carry the blood away from the heart, the capillary, which enable the actual exchange of water and chemicals between the blood and the tissues; and the veins, which carry blood from...
 that extends and branches out from an artery
Artery

Arteries are blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart. All arteries, with the exception of the pulmonary and umbilical arteries, carry oxygenated blood....
 and leads to capillaries
Capillary

Capillaries are the smallest of a body's blood vessels, measuring 5-10 micrometre in diameter, which connect arterioles and venules, and enable the interchange of water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and many other nutrient and waste chemical substances between blood and surrounding tissue s....
.

Arterioles have thin muscular
MUSCLE

MUSCLE is public domain, multiple sequence alignment software for protein and nucleotide sequences.MUSCLE is integrated into UGENE bioinformatics tool as a plugin....
 walls (usually only one to two layers of smooth muscle) and are the primary site of vascular resistance
Vascular resistance

Vascular resistance is a term used to define the resistance to flow that must be overcome to push blood through the circulatory system. The resistance offered by the peripheral circulation is known as the systemic vascular resistance , while the resistance offered by the vasculature of the lungs is known as the pulmonary vascular re...
. Arterioles receive autonomic nervous system
Autonomic nervous system

The autonomic nervous system is the part of the peripheral nervous system that acts as a control system, maintaining human homeostasis in the body....
 innervation and respond to various circulating hormones in order to regulate their diameter.

Blood pressure
Blood pressure

Blood pressure is the pressure exerted by circulating blood on the walls of blood vessels, and constitutes one of the principal vital signs. The pressure of the circulating blood decreases as it moves away from the heart through artery and capillary, and toward the heart through veins....
 in the arteries supplying the body is a result of the work needed to pump the cardiac output
Cardiac output

Cardiac output is the volume of blood being pumped by the heart, in particular by a ventricle in a minute. This is measured in dm3 min-1 ....
 (the flow of blood pumped by the heart) through the vascular resistance, usually termed total peripheral resistance
Total peripheral resistance

Vasculature throughout the entire body can be thought of as two separate circuits - one is the systemic circulation, while the other is the pulmonary circulation....
 by physicians and researchers.

Natural fluctuation

The up and down fluctuation of the arterial blood pressure is due to the pulsatile nature of the cardiac output
Cardiac output

Cardiac output is the volume of blood being pumped by the heart, in particular by a ventricle in a minute. This is measured in dm3 min-1 ....
 and determined by the interaction of the stroke volume
Stroke volume

In cardiovascular physiology, stroke volume is the volume of blood pumped from one ventricles of the heart of the heart with each beat. It is calculated by subtracting the volume of blood in the ventricle at the end of a beat from the volume of blood just prior to the beat ....
 versus the volume and elasticity of the major arteries.

In a healthy vascular system the endothelium
Endothelium

The endothelium is the thin layer of cell that line the interior surface of blood vessels, forming an interface between circulating blood in the lumen and the rest of the vessel wall....
, inner lining of arterioles and other blood vessels, is smooth and the vessel is relaxed.

This healthy condition is promoted by the ample production of nitric oxide
Nitric oxide

Nitric oxide or nitrogen monoxide is a chemical compound with chemical formula NitrogenOxygen. This gas is an important signaling molecule in the body of mammals, including humans, and is an extremely important intermediate in the chemical industry....
 in the endothelium, which requires a biochemical reaction regulated by a complex balance of polyphenol
Polyphenol

Polyphenols are a group of chemical substances found in plants, characterized by the presence of more than one phenol unit or building block per molecule....
s, various nitric oxide synthase
Nitric oxide synthase

Nitric oxide synthases are present among eukaryotic enzymes as dimeric, calmodulin-dependent or calmodulin-containing cytochrome p450-like hemoprotein that combine reductase and oxygenase catalytic domains in one dimer, bear both flavin adenine dinucleotide and flavin mononucleotide , and carry out a 5`-electron oxidation of non-aromatic a...
 enzyme
Enzyme

Enzymes are biomolecules that catalysis chemical reactions. Almost all enzymes are proteins. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process are called Substrate , and the enzyme converts them into different molecules, the products....
s and L-arginine
Arginine

Arginine is an a-amino acid. The Optical isomerism is one of the 20 most common natural amino acids. Its codons are CGU, CGC, CGA, CGG, AGA, and AGG....
. In addition there is direct communication via gap junctions between the endothelial cells and the vascular smooth muscle.

Pathology

Any pathogen which constricts blood flow, such as stenosis
Stenosis

A stenosis is an abnormal narrowing in a blood vessel or other tubular Organ or structure.It is also sometimes called a "stricture" .The term "coarctation" is synonymous, but is commonly used only in the context of aortic coarctation....
, will increase total peripheral resistance and lead to hypertension
Hypertension

Hypertension, also referred to as high blood pressure, HTN or HPN, is a medical condition in which the blood pressure is chronically elevated....
.

Medication

The muscular contraction of arterioles is targeted by drugs that lower blood pressure (antihypertensive
Antihypertensive

Antihypertensives are a class of medication that are used in medicine and pharmacology to treat hypertension . There are many classes of antihypertensives, which?by varying means?act by lowering blood pressure....
s), for example the dihydropyridines (nifedipine
Nifedipine

Nifedipine is a dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker. Its main uses are as an antianginal and antihypertensive, although a large number of other uses have recently been found for this agent, such as Raynaud's phenomenon, Premature birth, and painful spasms of the esophagus in cancer and tetanus patients....
 and nicardipine
Nicardipine

Nicardipine hydrochloride is a medication used to treat hypertension and Angina pectoris. It belongs to the class of calcium channel blockers....
), which block the calcium conductance
Calcium channel blocker

Calcium channel blockers are a class of medication and natural substances which disrupt the conduction of calcium channels.It has effects on many excitable cells of the body, such as cardiac muscle, i.e....
 in the muscular layer of the arterioles, causing relaxation.

This decreases the resistance to flow into peripheral vascular beds, lowering overall systemic pressure.

Metarterioles

A "metarteriole
Metarteriole

A Metarteriole is a short vessel that link arterioles and capillaries. Instead of a continuous tunica media, they have individual muscle cells placed a short distance apart, each forming a precapillary sphincter that encircles the entrance to one capillary....
" is an arteriole which bypasses capillary circulation.