Content Starts Here
vein
Encyclopaedia Search
Vein
'});)
 circulates from the heart to the lungs where oxygen is absorbed. Oxygen-rich blood (red) flows back to the heart and is then pumped round the body through the aorta, the largest artery, to smaller arteries and capillaries. Here oxygen and nutrients are exchanged with carbon dioxide and waste products and the blood returns to the heart via the veins. Waste products are filtered by the liver, spleen, and kidneys, and nutrients are absorbed from the stomach and small intestine.', copy:'(Image © RM)'});)
'});)
Click images to enlarge
Vessel that carries blood from the body to the heart in animals with a circulatory system. Veins contain valves that prevent the blood from running back when moving against gravity. They carry blood at low pressure, so their walls are thinner than those of arteries. They always carry deoxygenated blood, with the exception of the pulmonary vein, leading from the lungs to the heart in birds and mammals, which carries newly oxygenated blood.
The term is also used more loosely for any system of channels that strengthens living tissues and supplies them with nutrients – for example, leaf veins (see vascular bundle), and the veins in insects' wings. In leaves they make up the network that can normally be seen, especially from the underside of the leaf. These veins are made up of the two transport tissues of a plant, xylem and phloem.
© Research Machines plc 2008. All rights reserved. Helicon Publishing is a division of Research Machines plc.
Advertisement starts
Advertisement ends
Related Links
Spain Flag
The Pillars of Hercules represent the promontories of Gibraltar and Ceuta. The shield represents the regions of Castile, Léon, Aragón, Navarre, and Granada. Effective date: 18 December 1981.
>>
Advertorial
Find out how to buy the things you've always wanted and sell the things you don't on ebay.
Font size
Mail
My account
Help
Community
Print now
Send to a friend
Related articles
Related products
