ABSTRACT
In young people, the walls of the aorta and large arteries contain large amounts of elastin, making them very distensible. During ventricular systole, the aorta and other elastic arteries stretch, accommodating more blood and reducing systolic pressure. During diastole, they recoil, maintaining
ow during ventricular relaxation and raising diastolic pressure. e dierence between systolic and diastolic arterial pressure (pulse pressure) increases with age as the arteries become less elastic.
