Arteries that are near the heart are elastic arteries. These are large blood vessels that deal with a large amount of blood flow. They have to stretch and recoil with the contraction and relaxation of the heart. The vessels have a lot of elastic fiber that allow them to do that, they are called elastic arteries.
Muscular arteries are smaller in size; they have more of a smooth muscle than the elastic fibers in their tunica media that helps them to contract and relax. Arterioles are the smallest arteries and are barley visble to the naked eye. Even these have three layers in their walls.
The three layers of the arterial wall, the tunica intima, media and adventitia, are designed to help arteries carry out their functions like transport of blood and regulation of blood pressure.
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