Artery

blood vessels · heart · circulation · body systems

Your heart's delivery system. Arteries carry oxygen-rich blood away from your heart and deliver it to your whole body, like highways carrying precious cargo to distant cities.

Thick and muscular walls. Arteries have strong, flexible layers that can handle the powerful pumping force of your heartbeat without bursting.

Pulmonary artery exception. One special artery called the pulmonary artery actually carries blood that doesn't have oxygen yet, taking it from your heart to your lungs to pick up oxygen.

Baby's blood highway. Before you're born, umbilical arteries connect you to the placenta, which supplies oxygen and nutrients while your lungs aren't working yet.