Physiology: the microcirculation Flashcards
Small arteries branch into?
Arterioles
Arterioles branch into?
Capillaries
Little metarterioles that divert from?
Divert from capillaries direct to venules
Define ‘shunts’
Used when skeletal muscle at rest -> closure of capillary beds and shunting of blood into venous system)
Pre-capillary sphincters are?
Small vessels lined with smooth muscle. Can contract and occlude the capillaries and halt blood flow into the capillaries
Pre-capillary sphincters constrict at?
Low levels of metabolic activity and at higher levels, the muscle relaxes and allows blood to flow through
Pre-capillary sphincters enable the body to?
Match the level of blood flow to metabolic activity.
Relaxation increases the ______ of the capillary bed.
Cross-sectional area
Relaxing pre-capillary sphincters means that the rate of flow _____ so that the average time for exchange increases whilst also ____ the distance of diffusion.
decreases; reducing
Factors that make cells use more oxygen and produce more metabolites (CO2 etc)
Exercising muscle, increase in metabolic activity
These metabolites (CO2 etc) have local effects on the arterioles which cause?
Arteriolar vasodilation which reduces resistance to flow and increase capillary blood flow.
Describe simple diffusion in moving blood into cells
- Lipid soluble small molecules (O2, CO2, Cortisol) pass through the membrane based on concentration gradients. - Epithelial cell is not barrier.
Describe carrier mediated diffusion
non-lipid soluble small molecules: i.e. ions, glucose, amino acids need a channel to diffuse, so pores and intercellular clefts allow movement of these things
Describe pinocytosis regarding blood moving into cell
- Exchangeable proteins are moved across by vesicular transport. - It is encapsulated by part of the membrane and released into the interstitial fluid where it then moves into the cell. - e.g. insulin and fatty acids
Describe plasma proteins in moving blood into cell
Plasma proteins generally will not cross the capillary wall as they are too big.
Define Fick’s law
The rate of transfer of water and solutes across the capillary wall is primarily by diffusion.
Describe Fick’s Law in this picture

P = the capillary permeability to the molecule, permeabiliy is inversed related to molecular weight.
S = the surface area available for exchange, so greater surface area will increase diffusion (i.e. more capillaries).
Co = concentration of the substance outside the capillary.
Ci = concentration of the substance inside the capillary.
Rate of diffusion becomes progressively less, until at a molecular weight of ~60,000 the diffusion is minimal.
Permeability of the capillary endothelial wall is not the same in all tissues, so it depends on the tissue type e.g. very high in liver and kidney capillaries, but very low in brain capillaries.
The blood plasma and dissolved solutes move across the capillary membrane via the process of _____.
bulk flow
The fluid moves as a unit in contrast to _____ based on individual concentration gradients.
Diffusion
The driving force for reabsorption and filtration is not concentration, rather it is ____.
Pressure
When the pressure inside the capillary exceeds pressure outside, fluid is ?
Fluid is pushed out -> filtration
when the pressure outside is greater than the pressure inside, fluid moves?
Moves in -> reabsorption
Colloid osmotic pressure is due to?
Due to presence of blood plasma proteins
When separated by a semipermeable membrane, colloid osmotic pressure allows for?
Allows for movement of water, but not solute.














