does more blood run to muscles that are stressed?

Question

like when you do exercise, and then you're breathing more heavily...meaning more oxygen gets into your body, so does more blood go through muscles that have been stressed?

Answer 1

Under normal resting physiologic conditions, blood flow to skeletal muscle is mostly regulated by the sympathetic nervous system, and during increases in activity, when more bloodflow is needed, sympathetic innervation (via cell membrane receptors on muscle cells called "beta 2 adrenergic receptors") induces vasodilation, increasing flow into the muscles. Alpha 1 receptors oppose this by vasoconstricting blood vessels, and there is a fine balance maintained by the sympathetic nervous system, as the central nervous system (brain) knows how to regulate the bloodflow your skeletal muscle needs.

However, during exercise, this is not the most important mechanism the body uses to increase bloodflow to skeletal muscle!!!!!

Many tissues of the body use a process called autoregulation, meaning they REGULATE THEIR OWN BLOODFLOW. During exercise, local metabolic regulation is the most important regulator of bloodflow in skeletal muscle!!! By metabolic regulation, we mean that low oxygen content in muscle cells will induce those cells to secrete chemicals called "local vasodilators". Local vasodilators include substances called lactate, adenosine, and K+. These substances act locally on smooth muscle cells on incoming blood vessels to increase the floow through them (vasodilation).

Answer 2

yes