A muscular artery (or distributing artery) is a medium-sized

artery An artery (plural arteries) () is a blood vessel in humans and most animals that takes blood away from the heart to one or more parts of the body (tissues, lungs, brain etc.). Most arteries carry oxygenated blood; the two exceptions are the pu ...

that draws blood from an

elastic artery An elastic artery (conducting artery or conduit artery) is an artery with many collagen and elastin filaments in the tunica media, which gives it the ability to stretch in response to each pulse. This elasticity also gives rise to the Windkess ...

and branches into "resistance vessels" including small arteries and

arterioles An arteriole is a small-diameter blood vessel in the microcirculation that extends and branches out from an artery and leads to capillaries. Arterioles have muscular walls (usually only one to two layers of smooth muscle cells) and are the primar ...

. Their walls contain larger number of smooth muscles, allowing them to contract and expand depending on peripheral blood demand. This contrasts to the mechanism of elastic arteries, which use their elastic properties to store the energy generated by the heart's contraction for a brief moment (elastic recoil). Under the microscope, muscular arteries can be identified by their clearly defined

internal elastic lamina The internal elastic lamina or internal elastic lamella is a layer of elastic tissue that forms the outermost part of the tunica intima of blood vessels. It separates tunica intima from tunica media. Histology It is readily visualized with ligh ...

. In constricted vessels, the elastic lamina of muscular arteries appears thick and kinky. The elastic lamina is best visualized using

Verhoeff's stain Verhoeff's stain, also known as Verhoeff's elastic stain (VEG) or Verhoeff–Van Gieson stain (VVG), is a staining protocol used in histology, developed by American ophthalmic surgeon and pathologist Frederick Herman Verhoeff (1874–1968) in 1908 ...

, but can be easily detected in specimens stained using other techniques as a well-defined negative staining region. Examples of muscular arteries include the

radial artery In human anatomy, the radial artery is the main artery of the lateral aspect of the forearm. Structure The radial artery arises from the bifurcation of the brachial artery in the antecubital fossa. It runs distally on the anterior part of th ...

femoral artery The femoral artery is a large artery in the thigh and the main arterial supply to the thigh and leg. The femoral artery gives off the deep femoral artery or profunda femoris artery and descends along the anteromedial part of the thigh in the f ...

and the

splenic artery In human anatomy, the splenic artery or lienal artery is the blood vessel that supplies oxygenated blood to the spleen. It branches from the celiac artery, and follows a course superior to the pancreas. It is known for its tortuous path to the s ...

. Muscular arteries, along with elastic arteries, are common sites for atherosclerosis.

References

‌ *Norrander, J.M., Kirkpatrick C., Bauer, G.E., Porter, M.E., Marker, P.C., Linck, R.W., et al. (2008). '' Human Histology 2008.'' University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. Human Histology (GCD 6103/8103) Fall 2008 Course Packet. Arteries {{circulatory-stub