The vessels are elastic tubes that carry blood to every part of the body. Blood is essential. In addition to carrying oxygen and nutrients to your body's tissues, it also takes carbon dioxide and waste products away from the tissues. It is needed to sustain life and promote the health of all the body's tissues. They begin with the aorta, the large artery leaving the heart.
Arteries carry oxygen-rich blood away from the heart to all of the body's tissues.
They branch several times, becoming smaller and smaller as they carry blood farther from the heart. These are small, thin blood vessels that connect the arteries and the veins. Their thin walls allow oxygen, nutrients, carbon dioxide and waste products to pass to and from the tissue cells. Veins These are blood vessels that take oxygen-poor blood back to the heart. Veins become larger and larger as they get closer to the heart.