Blood distribution during rest and exercise

Blood flow through tissues is matched with the metabolic needs of the
tissues. During exercise, blood flow through tissues is changed dramatically.
Its rate of flow through exercising skeletal muscles can be 15 to 20 times
greater than through resting muscles. The increased blood flow is the product
of local, nervous, and hormonal regulatory mechanisms. When skeletal
muscle is resting, only 20% to 25% of the capillaries are open, whereas during
exercise 100% of the capillaries are open.

Low oxygen tensions resulting from greatly increased muscular activity

or the release of vasodilator substances such as lactic acid, carbon dioxide,
and potassium ions causes dilation of precapillary sphincters. Increased
sympathetic stimulation and epinephrine released from the adrenal medulla
cause some vasoconstriction in the blood vessels of the skin and viscera and
some vasodilation of blood vessels in skeletal muscles. Consequently,
resistance to blood flow in skeletal muscle decreases, and resistance to blood
flow in the skin and viscera increases somewhat. Therefore blood is shunted
from the viscera and the skin through the vessels in skeletal muscles.

The movement of skeletal muscles that compresses veins in a cyclic

fashion and the constriction of veins greatly increase the venous return to the
heart. The resulting increase in the preload and increased sympathetic
stimulation of heart result in elevated heart rate and stroke volume, which
increases the cardiac output. As a consequence, the blood pressure usually
increases by 20 to 60 mm Hg, which helps sustain the increased blood flow
through skeletal muscle blood vessels.

In response to sympathetic stimulation, some decrease in the blood flow

through the skin can occur at the beginning of exercise. However, as the body
temperature increases in response to the increased muscular activity,
temperature receptors in the hypothalamus are stimulated. As a result, action
potentials in sympathetic nerve fibers causing vasoconstriction decrease,
resulting in vasodilation of blood vessels in the skin. As a consequence, the
skin turns a red or pinkish color, and a great deal of excess heat is lost as
blood flows through the diilated blood vessels.

PANNIRSELVAM A/L RAMASAMY

M20161000723
 The overall effect of exercise on circulation is to greatly increase the
blood flow through exercising muscles and to keep blood flow through other
organs at a low value, which is just adequate to supply their metabolic needs.

PANNIRSELVAM A/L RAMASAMY

M20161000723