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The arterioles apparently constrict and expand in different regions of the body at different times to direct blood volume to where it's needed most, also to minimize blood loss, anticipating a fight/flight response, etc. Some indicate the most common form of high blood pressure results from a chronic arteriole constriction with unknown cause. The basic idea seems to be that arterioles play the major role in determining blood pressure.

I didn't know this article existed. I will slowly work on it to link it with smooth muscle and my goals I've outlined on the talk there. Need to mention how vasoregulation variies in different vascular beds:brain, skeletal muscle, lungs, etc. These resistant vessels' tone and vasomotion are critical in regulating blood flow and pressure. O.K. need to explain how generally oxygen is vasoconstictive and carbon dioxide vasodilatory, except arterioles in lungs just reverse as high oxygen causes vasodilation (for obvious reasons). Note how generally norepinphrine and epinephrine cause vasoconstriction via alpha-adrenergic receptors. However, vessels in skeletal muscle and heart vasodilate because they possess beta-adrenergic receptors. Brain arterioles sensitive to pH. Need to mention specialized arterioles such as in kidneys. Perhaps mention biomechanical studies of arterioles like Mulvany and Halpern with wire myographs and now pressurized vessel studies. Technically pretty cool running wires through arterioles of 100 u or less (done it myself). Of course some Japanese researchers have attached force transducers to single smooth muscle cells. Jeez unbelievable. Need to rewrite natural fluctuations section. Regards GetAgrippa (talk) 00:51, 28 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

How accurate is the scale of the Rabbit arteriole? It seems to me that the image would only be accurate when the image is viewed at 100%, and not when it's a thumbnail. As such lets change the caption. --Keithonearth (talk) 05:32, 11 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]