How does blood reach literally every cell in the body? There can’t be capillaries between every single cell when capillaries are also made of cells…. can there?

Question

How does this work?

In: 4868

Answer 1

This is a really good question! It’s all about distance. A capillary only needs to get close enough for the various things like oxygen or sugar to drift across the gap. So yeah basically every cell in your body is within a millimeter or so of a capillary. There’s a few notable exceptions like your eyeball but mostly it’s just proximity. I think a good analogy is roads. Is there a road to your bed ? No. There’s a road to your driveway though. Is there a road to your office desk? Almost . The last few feet you walk to your work or home is the diffusion part.