###### Created: 2024-01-13 14:47 ###### Areas & Topics: #medicine #anatomy #physiology ###### Note Type: #permanent ###### Connected to: [[Systemic Arterial Blood Pressure - Medical Sciences, Third Edition]] - Arterioles are smaller blood vessels that act as the connection between arteries and capillaries. - They have a larger proportion of their tunica media layer (i.e. more smooth muscle relative to the size of their lumen) compared to [[Arteries]]. - Due to the [[The Myogenic Response of Blood Vessels (The Bayliss Effect)]], this allows them to produce greater resistance to blood flowing through them compared to arteries - In fact, arterioles are the site of greatest resistance against blood flow, with the greatest change of blood pressure and velocity of blood flow being at the transition between arterioles and [[Capillaries]]. - This is important as the higher resistance of arterioles controls blood pressure and autoregulates the blood flow through capillaries after them, stopping the capillaries being damaged or bursting from the pressure. ![[2103_Muscular_and_Elastic_Artery_Arteriole.jpg]] ### Resources https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arteriole