Arteriolers

Arteriolers is a term encountered in a minority of vascular biology writings to describe proposed regulatory elements at the level of arterioles. It is not an officially recognized anatomical term and is generally described as a functional unit rather than a discrete cell type.

In some usages, arteriolers refer to a consortium of endothelial cells, vascular smooth muscle cells, pericyte-like elements, and associated signaling components that coordinate vasomotor tone in precapillary and terminal arterioles. The precise cellular identity and structure of arteriolers vary by author, and there is no broad consensus on their existence as a distinct entity.

Functionally, arteriolers are proposed to sense metabolic cues and shear stress and to integrate signals such as nitric oxide, endothelin, and prostaglandins to adjust vessel diameter. Through these interactions, they are thought to contribute to the autoregulation of tissue blood flow and to the fine-tuning of microvascular perfusion.

Clinical relevance assigned to arteriolers is largely conceptual. Dysfunction of arteriolar regulation is linked in general to hypertension and microvascular complications of diseases like diabetes, but the term arteriolers itself has limited, if any, direct clinical validation. As a nonstandard term, its use tends to appear in exploratory or theoretical discussions rather than in formal anatomical nomenclature.

See also: Arterioles, Microcirculation, Vasomotion, Endothelium.