Circulatory system the areas above the heart) and the inferior vena cava (roughly speaking from areas below the heart). These two great vessels empty into the right atrium of the heart. The heart itself is supplied with oxygen and nutrients through a small "loop" of the systemic circulation and derives very little from the blood contained within the four chambers. The general rule is that arteries from the heart branch out into capillaries, which collect into veins leading back to the heart. Portal veins are a slight exception to this. In humans the only significant example is the hepatic portal vein which
Trabecular veins Trabecular veins The trabecular veins are the largest veins inside the spleen. It drains the blood collected in the sinuses of the pulp. The blood is collected from the interstices of the tissue by the rootlets of the veins, which begin much in the same way as the arteries end. The connective-tissue corpuscles of the pulp arrange themselves in rows, in such a way as to form an elongated space or sinus. They become elongated and spindle-shaped, and overlap each other at their extremities, and thus form a sort of endothelial lining of the path or sinus, which is the