W/C flow like problem, but with a biological twist!
 

Was having my supervision in human reproduction yesterday at Uni. My supervisor was telling me that the spiral arteries (so called as they're like springs) going to the placenta are spiral so that they slow the blood down. I said why not just lower the bore of the arteries. She said that it was for two reasons; first so that you can adjust your flow rates as the artery changes size (I buy that, that's fine), but secondly because it allows a high surface area (so lots of blood), but as a low velocity. Well that's crap. It's not like that has any effect what so ever, still the same amount of blood going into its capillary bed. Volume gone through is area times speed times time. High bore, low speed, does bugger all.

So I said 'why do you want high surface area and low flow?', and this is the bit that made me post here; she said that it gave time for the oxygen to diffuse out of the capillaries, across the placenta, and into the foetal arteries, as diffusion takes time. Right

Diffusion doesn't take time, it's ESSENTIALLY instantaneous (I know it isn't, but because the oxygen that diffuses out is actually in the plasma (the plasma O2 is in equilibrium with the red blood cell O2, so more O2 goes into the water component of the blood as it leaves across the capillary wall), the oxygen doesn't have far to travel at all. While for 1 molecule it might take a while for it to get across the membrane by chance, and so by having quick flow it might not diffuse, by having quick flow you're restoring the O2 concentration gradient and driving more oxygen to pass across the membrane. Not only that, but even if it did take time for the oxygen to pass across the membrane, once it's inside it, removing the old slightly less well oxygenated blood from the capillary by having a quicker blood flow rate can't do any harm, it can only speed up the diffusion!

It's hard to explain, but when an oxygen molecule is bouncing around at incredibly speeds, blood flow rate really doesn't have much affect on the molecule, only the fluid en masse.

Anyway, I think she's wrong. I expect the spiral is there because it allows the uterus and such to change shape as the baby develops, acting like a spring. Her logic seems fine when you first think about it, but really when you analyse it on a molecular level, it doesn't make sense. It's no different from saying you should have a low flow rate in water cooling so the water has time to absorb the heat; both of them involve molecules (or electrons) bouncing around, and just because you're recycling the source/destination doesn't mean they can't get to their targets.

What do you guys think? Maybe you could put it a bit more eloquently than I.

Re: W/C flow like problem, but with a biological twist!
 

What about pressure? Wouldn't a smaller capillary require more pressure, at times? Would that pressure always be available?

I like your idea about the internal movements.

Re: W/C flow like problem, but with a biological twist!
 

Not sure what you're trying to say dude, sorry.

Re: W/C flow like problem, but with a biological twist!
 

In fact, what she says makes even less sense becuase the diffusion occurs through capillaries, not the spiral arteries themselves anyway. I mean the spiral arteries only fuel the capillary beds, so the speed of flow in them doesn't matter as long as the same amount of blood gets to the capillary beds. So surely what she says is wrong?

Re: W/C flow like problem, but with a biological twist!
 

Just a guess/speculation, but could the purpose be to allow more space for connecting the branching capillaries to the spiral arteries?
By spiraling the supply line, pack more surface area to branch off? Instead of having (random number here..) 10 branches running off in an inch run, you could possibly have 25-30, depending on how tightly the spiral is wound.

Just a thought, though.