Question

What purpose/benefit does an elastic aorta have in terms of resistance?

Answer 1

The aorta is a large blood vessel which carry oxygenated blood from left ventricle to different parts of body. The wall of aorta is made up of elastic protein called elastin. This elastin protein provide flexibility to vessel and also provide resistance to flow of blood by recoiling.

The resistance offered by aorta helps in maintaining blood pressure of body during systolic distention. If this resistance is absent ,then the aorta can expand continuously and can even rupture.

Also, this resistance build up pressure in aorta which is responsible for opening of aortic valve during ventricular systole.

With increasing age, the resistance in aortic wall increases, which cause increase stiffness leading to hypertension and chances of infraction is more.