capillary
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- Key People:
- Marcello Malpighi August Krogh
- Related Topics:
- human cardiovascular system artery vein purpura blood-brain barrier
capillary, in human physiology, any of the minute blood vessels that form networks throughout the bodily tissues; it is through the capillaries that oxygen, nutrients, and wastes are exchanged between the blood and the tissues. The capillary networks are the ultimate destination of arterial blood from the heart and are the starting point for flow of venous blood back to the heart. Between the smallest arteries, or arterioles, and the capillaries are intermediate vessels called precapillaries, or metarterioles, that, unlike the capillaries, have muscle fibres that permit them to contract; thus the precapillaries are able to control the emptying and ...(100 of 261 words)