File:Capillaries.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
arteriole
Sign in to saveAlso known as arteriola, arterioles
An arteriole is a small-diameter blood vessel in the microcirculation that extends and branches out from an artery and leads to capillaries.
Key facts
- Artery.Name
- Arteriole
- Artery.Latin
- arteriola
- Artery.Image
- Capillaries.jpg
- Artery.Caption
- Types of blood vessels, including an arteriole and artery, as well as capillaries.
- Artery.Width
- 300px
- Artery.Image2
- Rabbitarteriole100x1.jpg
- Artery.Caption2
- Rabbit arteriole at 100X
via Wikipedia infobox
Research
22,391 papers- The post-arteriole transitional zone: a specialized capillary region that regulates blood flow within the CNS microvasculature.The Journal of physiology · 2023
- Early spiral arteriole remodeling in the uterine-placental interface: A rat model.Journal of anatomy · 2024
- 3D optogenetic control of arteriole diameter in vivo.eLife · 2022
- Retinal Arteriole Occlusions Associated With Microembolization After Silicone Gluteal Injections.Retina (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2023
- Afferent arteriole responsiveness to endothelin receptor activation: does sex matter?Biology of sex differences · 2019
via PubMed
Wikidata facts
- Image
- Artères précapillaires ou artérioles.jpg
Show 2 more facts
- NCI Thesaurus ID
- C12672
- Commons category
- Arteriole
via Wikidata · CC0
~5 min read
Article
12 sectionsContents
- Structure
- Physiology
- Blood pressure
- Autoregulation
- Clinical significance
- Disease
- Arteriosclerosis
- Arteritis
- Medication
- Metarterioles
- See also
- References
An arteriole is a small-diameter blood vessel in the microcirculation that extends and branches out from an artery and leads to capillaries.
Arterioles have muscular walls (usually only one to two layers of smooth muscle cells) and are the primary site of vascular resistance. The greatest change in blood pressure and velocity of blood flow occurs at the transition of arterioles to capillaries. This function is extremely important because it prevents the thin, one-layer capillaries from exploding upon pressure. The arterioles achieve this decrease in pressure, as they are the site with the highest resistance (a large contributor to total peripheral resistance) which translates to a large decrease in the pressure.