Pulmonary circulation where carbon dioxide is released and oxygen is picked up during respiration. Arteries are further divided into very fine capillaries which are extremely thin-walled. The pulmonary vein returns oxygenated blood to the left atrium of the heart. The oxygenated blood then leaves the lungs through pulmonary veins, which return it to the left heart, completing the pulmonary cycle. This blood then enters the left atrium, which pumps it through the mitral valve into the left ventricle. From the left ventricle, the blood passes through the aortic valve to the aorta. The blood is then distributed to the body through the
Tail vein Tail vein Tail vein or caudal vein is the largest vein in vertebrate animals' tail. It leads directly into the posterior cardinal vein in the posterior trunk in fishes. Mammal caudal vein (the middle caudal vein) leads to inferior vena cava. Caudal vein is one of the many places from which a laboratory worker can withdraw blood from a mouse specimen. The process does not require the death of the mouse, that is, assuming that not too much more than the established standard of "no more than two blood samples are taken per session and in any one 24-hour period.".