Blood flow (vascular resistance)
- site of greatest resistance to blood flow is the arterioles - it is across the arterioles that the greatest drop in blood pressure occurs.
- other factors:
- if there is a constant perfusion pressure then the blood flow is inversely proportional to the peripheral resistance
- resistance to flow is dependent on: diameter of the vessel, the length and the viscosity of the perfusing fluid. The resistance is related to the diameter by: resistance is proportional to diameter ^4 e.g. if the diameter is reduced by 1/2 then resistance is increased by 16 x
- resistance is increased if blood flow is turbulent
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