During the flight or fight response, sympathetic pathways cause arterioles to contract. If this is true, how is it possible to increase blood flow to areas that require additional oxygen, such as skeletal muscle?

What will be an ideal response?


Answer: While vasoconstriction is useful for areas that don't require additional oxygen, such as the gut and kidneys, skeletal muscles need extra oxygen. While the sympathetic pathways dictate that arterioles contract, local paracrine factors released by muscles and the heart, such as nitric oxide and adenosine, signal the vessels to dilate, and the local factors override the sympathetic signal.

Anatomy & Physiology

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