Describe the effect of sympathetic activity on venous return

What will be an ideal response?


Veins are not very muscular and have little inherent tone, but venous smooth muscle is abundantly supplied with sympathetic nerve fibers. Sympathetic stimulation produces venous vasoconstriction, which modestly elevates venous pressure; this, in turn, increases the pressure gradient to drive more of the stored blood from the veins into the right atrium, thus enhancing venous return. Veins normally have such a large radius that the moderate vasoconstriction from sympathetic stimulation has little effect on resistance to flow. Even when constricted, veins still have a relatively large radius and are still low-resistance vessels.

Anatomy & Physiology

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Anatomy & Physiology