Practice Quiz Which chamber of the heart pumps blood to the lungs? Right ventricle Which blood vessels carry blood to the left atrium? Pulmonary veins After blood is in the right atrium it enters the: After blood is in the left ventricle it enters the blood vessel: Aorta The vena cava is attached to which chamber of the heart? Right atrium

Blood Vessels

Arteries Carry blood away from the heart Have strong thick muscled walls because they need to handle the blood pressure created every time the heart beats Arteries branch into smaller and smaller blood vessels as they move away from the heart (the smaller vessels are called arterioles)

Atherosclerosis High levels of LDL (the bad cholesterol) in the blood stream will collect in the form of plaque, blocking the blood vessel in a condition called atherosclerosis. If this happens in an artery in the brain then blood flow to part of the brain will be blocked. That part of the brain will die, causing the person to have a stroke (symptoms of stroke include paralysis down one half of the body, slurred speech and confusion) If this happens in a coronary artery the blood flow to the heart muscle itself will be blocked, causing some of the heart tissue to die. This can lead to a heart attack. (symptoms being pain in the chest, trouble breathing, irregular heartbeat and possibly death)

Aneurism If a person has consistent high blood pressure (also known as hypertension) it can lead to a lot of wear and tear on arteries. Over many years arteries can develop weak spots. If one of this weak spots bursts the person will then bleed into their own body, which is called an aneurism. Symptoms will vary depending on where the bleed happens, the size of the tear, and how quickly the condition is detected and treated.

Capillaries The thin walled little blood vessels that connect the arteries to the veins They are the site of fluid exchange: where oxygen and nutrients leave the blood and enter the tissues and cells AND the carbon dioxide and wastes leave the cells and enter the blood stream The capillaries in the lungs do the reverse of this (adding oxygen to the blood, releasing CO2 from it)

Veins Carry blood back to the heart Are not as thickly walled as arteries (because they don’t have to handle the same blood pressure since they are farther from the force of each heart beat) Veins are nice and stretchy so they can handle a high volume of blood They have valves in them to stop blood from flowing backwards on its way back to the heart The movement of our skeletal muscles pumps the blood along the veins

Varicose veins Veins in the legs need to have very strong walls and good valves to keep blood flowing back up to the heart. As people get older their blood vessels lose some of their ability to fully repair themselves If someone carries a lot of weight (such as during a pregnancy) it can put a lot of strain on the veins in their legs Both of these things can lead to valves not functioning properly in the veins of the legs, which causes blood to pool there. This condition is called varicose veins.