Vascular Gallery

Blood coagulation cascade, artwork C016/9873

Blood coagulation cascade. Artwork of the biochemical cascade of blood chemicals and proteins during blood clotting (coagulation). The blood vessel and its layered wall is at upper left. The main diagram shows a clot forming at the damaged area (upper right). This occurs via reaction chains known as pathways mediated by factor X proteins (red spheres). The extrinsic pathway (down centre, blue arrows) and intrinsic pathway (down left, yellow arrows) unite in the common pathway (up right, from thrombin, yellow sphere) to form the blood clot. This consists of fibrin (yellow trefoils), platelets (pink puzzle pieces), red blood cells (red discs), and white blood cells (light blue spheres)

© JOSE ANTONIO PE

Blood clot on plaster, SEM

Blood clot on plaster. Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of blood clotting on the surface of a sticking plaster used to dress a small cut. Red blood cells (erythrocytes) are trapped in filaments of fibrin protein (brown). The fibres of the absorbent material of the plaster are also seen (grey). When an injury occurs, platelets (not seen) in the blood stimulate the formation of fibrin filaments, which enmesh platelets and red and white blood cells. The fibrin contracts around them to form a solid clot. Sticking plasters are used to help stop bleeding, and to keep an injury clean and dry during healing. Magnification: x830 when printed 10cm wide

© STEVE GSCHMEISSNER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Heart bypass graft, artwork

Heart bypass graft. Computer artwork of a heart that has had a blockage of the coronary arteries treated by coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. The coronary arteries are the small blood vessels seen running over the outer surface of the heart. They supply oxygenated blood to keep the heart muscle pumping, and a blockage can cause a fatal heart attack. The solution is to harvest arteries from elsewhere in the body and use them to bypass the blockage. One graft is seen running from the aorta, the main body artery, back to the coronary arteries

© Science Photo Library