FEATURE ARTICLE
Elasticity in Arteries
A similar combination of rubbery and stiff materials creates common mechanical properties in blood vessels of vertebrates and some invertebrates
Robert Shadwick
An animal's cells need a constant flow of blood through the arteries to deliver nutrients and carry away wastes. How can that be accomplished with a pump—the heart—that cycles on and off? The pulsatile flow from the heart must be damped, or converted to a comparatively smooth flow, and that gets accomplished by elasticity in the arteries. Shadwick explains how an artery's elasticity smooths blood flow in a wide variety of animals. He also describes the arterial components that provide stretchiness and others that provide strength.
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