Lets learn about arteries and veins.
Arteries carry blood away from the heart while veins carry blood toward the heart.
Lets begin with the arteries.
We will examine the largest artery, the aorta first.
The parts of the aorta include the ascending, arch and descending aorta.
The first major branch on the right is the brachiocephalic branch.
This branch subdivides into right common carotid and subclavian branches.
The left side contains separate branches for the common carotid and subclavian arteries.
If we follow the common carotid artery we see that it splits or bifurcates into internal
and external carotids.
The carotid sinus, a baroreceptor that senses blood pressure is located at the bifurcation.
The internal carotid enters the skull to supply the brain.
The external carotid remains outside of the skull.
Its branches include the lingual, facial, maxillary, superficial temporal and occipital.
The vertebral artery branches off of the subclavian and runs through the transverse foramen of
the cervical vertebrae.
It supplies the Cerebral arterial circle or circle of Willis.
Both vertebral arteries supply the basilar artery.
The arterial circle is supplied by the basilar artery along with both internal carotid arteries.
The posterior cerebral arteries branch from the basilar artery and provide blood to sections
of the temporal and occipital lobes, the midbrain and thalamus.
The anterior cerebral arteries branch from the internal carotids and provide blood to
the parietal and frontal lobes.
The anterior communicating artery connects the right and left anterior cerebral arteries.
The posterior communicating artery connects the posterior cerebral and internal carotid
arteries.
Looking at the upper extremity we see the axillary artery as a continuation of the subclavian.
It is called the axillary as soon as it emerges from beneath the clavicle.
The axillary becomes the brachial.
The brachial splits into radial and ulnar arteries which branch into the superficial
and deep palmar arches and digital arteries.
Looking at the thorax we see the thoracic aorta that contains a number of branches that
supply the thorax.
The thoracic aorta becomes the abdominal aorta after it passes though the diaphragm.
The abdominal aorta also contains numerous branches for the abdominal organs.
It splits into common iliacs with each iliac splitting into internal and external iliacs.
The internal iliacs remain inside of the pelvic region.
The external iliac emerges from beneath the inguinal ligament to become the femoral.
The femoral moves posterior and becomes the popliteal.
The popliteal then branches into anterior and posterior tibials and fibular arteries.
The veins have a similar arrangement.
One difference is that there are both superficial and deep veins.
A lot of the deep veins have the same names as the arteries.
We will examine just a few veins.
The right and left brachiocephalic veins branch from the superior vena cava.
We also see internal and external jugular veins that drain the head and neck.
Two of the superficial veins in the arm include the cephalic which runs in the lateral arm
and basilica which runs medial.
The great saphenous vein is a superficial vein that runs along the medial aspect of
the leg.
The hepatic portal system receives blood from the digestive organs, gallbladder, pancreas
and spleen.
It moves the blood into a capillary system in the liver before the blood can return to
the heart.
This allows for the liver to detoxify the blood as well as to package lipids.
We hope you have learned something about the circulatory system and see you next time.