Which vessels supply oxygenated blood to the heart muscle?

• A. Coronary arteries.
• B. Pulmonary arteries.
• C. Jugular veins.
• D. Pulmonary veins.

Answer: (A)

Oxygen-rich blood to the heart muscle is provided by the coronary arteries. These vessels branch off the aorta and travel over and into the heart muscle (myocardium), delivering the oxygen the myocardium needs to keep beating and to meet its metabolic demands. If these vessels are blocked, the heart tissue can suffer from ischemia because it isn’t getting enough oxygen.

The other vessels don’t perform this perfusion role: the pulmonary arteries carry blood away from the heart to the lungs to get oxygenated (they transport deoxygenated blood, not to the heart muscle itself); jugular veins drain blood from the head and neck into the heart; pulmonary veins return oxygenated blood from the lungs to the left atrium, but they’re part of the circulation back to the heart chambers rather than supplying the heart muscle’s own tissue.