It separates into two arteries that carry blood to the lungs . The main goods are oxygen, water, nutrients, and wastes, all carried by the blood . Information, in the form of hormones, also travels with the blood, continually fine-tuning the operations of organs throughout the body. Several important hormones control the arteries themselves, regulating blood pressure and providing extra blood as needed during an emergency. The arteries are more of a purely physical system than are most bodily systems, and they are affected by common physical problems.
Arteries can be plugged or clogged, they can leak or break open, they can be cut or compressed.
All such physical problems result in damage to organs that lose their blood supply. If the organs are essential, damage or disease in arteries can kill. Not all problems that plague arteries are mechanical. Like other parts of the body, arteries can become irritated and infected. Infection of the arteries by bacteria in the blood, often called blood poisoning , is a serious condition.