Arteries are best defined as the vessels which

Arteries are best defined as the vessels which
A Carry blood from one visceral organ to another visceral organ
B Supply oxygenated blood to the different organs
C Carry blood away from the heart to different organs
D Break up into capillaries which reunite to form a vein

Detailed Solution

Arteries are defined by the direction of blood flow: they carry blood away from the heart to the different organs.
They cannot be defined by the type of blood they carry, because the pulmonary artery carries deoxygenated blood from the heart to the lungs.
A vessel that carries blood from one visceral organ to another is a portal vein (e.g., the hepatic portal vein).
Breaking up into capillaries that reunite to form a vein is not a defining feature; it does not distinguish an artery from a portal vessel.
Hence arteries are best defined as vessels that carry blood away from the heart to different organs.

Blood vessels in past papers

2 questions from this chapter have appeared across 2 exam years.

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Practise Blood vessels All 2 questions This chapter in 2011 AIPMT-PRE