Capillaries

Capillaries
Capillaries are the smallest of blood vessels. They serve to distribute oxygenated blood from arteries to the tissues of the body and to feed deoxygenated blood from the tissues back into the veins. The capillaries are thus a central component in the circulatory system, essentially between the arteries and the veins. When pink areas of skin are compressed, this causes blanching because blood is pressed out of the capillaries. The blood is the fluid in the body that contains, among other elements, the red blood cells (erythrocytes) that carry the oxygen and give the blood its red color.

Medical dictionary. 2011.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • capillaries — cap·il·lar·y || kÉ™ pɪlÉ™rɪ n. very small blood vessel adj. of or pertaining to a very small blood vessel …   English contemporary dictionary

  • erythrocytic capillaries — capillaries of the bone marrow of early life which seem to produce erythrocytes …   Medical dictionary

  • Meigs capillaries — capillaries in the myocardium …   Medical dictionary

  • Peritubular capillaries — Infobox Artery Name = PAGENAME Latin = GraySubject = GrayPage = Caption = Caption2 = BranchFrom = Efferent arteriole BranchTo = Interlobular vein Vein = Supplies = MeshName = MeshNumber = DorlandsPre = c 06 DorlandsSuf = 13477736 In the renal… …   Wikipedia

  • continuous capillaries — one of the two major types of capillaries, found in muscle, skin, lung, central nervous system, and other tissues, and characterized by an uninterrupted endothelium, a continuous basal lamina, fine filaments, and numerous pinocytotic vesicles. Cf …   Medical dictionary

  • fenestrated capillaries — one of the two major types of capillaries, found in the intestinal mucosa, renal glomeruli, pancreas, endocrine glands, and other tissues, and characterized by circular fenestrae or pores that penetrate the endothelium and may be closed by a very …   Medical dictionary

  • bile capillaries — 1. bile canaliculi. 2. a term sometimes used to designate the cholangioles …   Medical dictionary

  • sheathed capillaries — see under artery …   Medical dictionary

  • Meigs capillaries — (megz) [Arthur V. Meigs, American physician, 1850–1912] see under capillary …   Medical dictionary

  • Capillary — Capillaries are the smallest of a body s blood vessels, measuring 5 10 μm in diameter, which connect arterioles and venules, and enable the interchange of water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and many other nutrient and waste chemical substances… …   Wikipedia

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