Arteries are muscular and elastic-walled vessels that form a network to carry oxygen-rich blood from the heart to all parts of the body. Smaller branches called arterioles extend from the arteries and connect to even smaller branches called metarterioles which deliver the blood to the capillaries. The exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between blood and body cells takes place through the thin walls of the capillaries.
There are two principal arteries or arterial trunks: the aorta, which rises from the left ventricle of the heart and ramifies through the whole body, sending off great branches to the head, neck, and upper limbs, and downwards to the lower limbs, etc; and the pulmonary artery, which conveys venous blood from the right ventricle to the lungs, to be purified in the process of respiration. Research Artery
The pulmonary artery (pulmonary trunk) carries blood from the right side of the heart to the lungs. It is the only artery that carries dark, low-oxygen blood. The artery is short and wide (about 2 inches in length and 1 1/5 inches in diameter). It arises from the base of the right ventricle and extends upward and branches into two arteries of nearly equal size. The right pulmonary artery is longer and larger and runs horizontally outward to the base of the right lung where it divides in two branches for the two lobes. The left pulmonary artery is shorter and somewhat smaller. It runs horizontally to the base of the left lobe where it divides in two branches for the two lobes. Research Pulmonary Artery
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Artery
