Arteries are best defined as the vessels which
- supply oxygenated blood to the different organs
- carry blood away from the heart to different organs
- break up into capillaries which reunite to form a vein
- carry blood from one visceral organ to another visceral organ.
Answer
(2) carry blood away from the heart to different organs
Solution
An artery is defined by the direction of blood flow: it carries blood away from the heart to the organs.
∵ The pulmonary artery carries deoxygenated blood, option (1) is not a correct definition.
∵ Capillaries reuniting to form a vein, or a vessel between two visceral organs, describes only special vessels (e.g. the hepatic portal vein runs from the intestine to the liver), so options (3) and (4) do not define an artery.
Answer: (2)