

The pulmonary arteries only supply blood flow and oxygen to the lungs and must have the ability to accept huge blood volumes at times. It is the ability of the blood vessels to distend and be recruited which allows the pressures in the pulmonary system to stay low despite very high blood flow. Once the red blood cells have become oxygenated the capillary bed is drained into venules which then join to form the pulmonary veins.

The capillaries have great capability to distend thus enhancing gas exchange and reservoir action. The pulmonary arteries whose walls are very thin in comparison to that of the arteries in the main circulation feed the lung up to the level of the terminal bronchioles and then split into the capillary bed. The blood vessels in the lungs continually branch and get consistently smaller very like the branching of the airways.

