Difference Between Aorta and Pulmonary Artery

The key difference between aorta and pulmonary artery is that aorta is the largest artery that delivers oxygenated blood from the lungs to the rest of the body while pulmonary artery is the artery that delivers deoxygenated blood to the lungs for purification.

Heart is the four-chambered muscular organ that pumps blood throughout the body. It has a network of blood vessels – veins, arteries and capillaries. Aorta and pulmonary artery are two of the five great vessels that enter or leave the heart directly. Aorta is the largest artery. It carries oxygenated blood from the left ventricle of the heart to the rest of the body. Pulmonary artery is the artery that begins from the right ventricle and carries deoxygenated blood to the lungs for purification.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Aorta 
3. What is Pulmonary Artery
4. Similarities Between Aorta and Pulmonary Artery
5. Side by Side Comparison – Aorta vs Pulmonary Artery in Tabular Form
6. Summary

What is Aorta?

Aorta is the biggest artery in the human body. It carries oxygenated blood from the heart to the rest of the human body. Since it transports aerated blood to the whole body, there is a high blood pressure within the aorta. Hence, it is made up of thick walls. Moreover, it is a highly elastic artery. It is located at the top of the heart. There is an aortic valve at the entrance of the aorta from the left ventricle. Moreover, aorta is a part of the systemic circulation.

Aorta divides into several small arteries. These sub arteries are the ascending and descending aorta, the aortic arch, and the thoracic and abdominal aorta. At the aortic arch, there are baroreceptors and chemoreceptors to monitor blood pressure. Aortic dissection, aortic aneurysm, atherosclerosis, aortic inflammation and connective tissue disorders are several aortic artery diseases.

What is Pulmonary Artery?

The pulmonary artery is a great artery that carries deoxygenated blood from the right ventricle to lungs for purification. It begins from the right ventricle, and there is a pulmonary value at the beginning of the artery. Generally, arteries carry oxygenated blood. However, the pulmonary artery is the only artery that carries deoxygenated blood.

Moreover, the pulmonary artery is located just beneath the aorta. It branches into the left and right main pulmonary arteries. These arteries split into smaller arteries, then into arterioles and eventually into capillaries. They are part of the pulmonary circulation. Pulmonary embolisms and pulmonary hypertension are two pulmonary artery diseases.

What are the Similarities Between Aorta and Pulmonary Artery?

• Aorta and pulmonary artery are the two major arteries in the human body.
• They are important parts of the circulatory system.
• Both arteries carry blood away from the heart.
• Both start from ventricles.
• They branch off into smaller arteries.
• There are aortic and pulmonary diseases.

What is the Difference Between Aorta and Pulmonary Artery?

Aorta is one of the great arteries that carry oxygenated blood from the heart to the rest of the body while the pulmonary artery is a great artery that carries deoxygenated blood from the heart to lungs for purification. So, this is the key difference between aorta and pulmonary artery. Furthermore, the aorta has high blood pressure than the pulmonary artery.

Moreover, the aorta is located at the top of the heart while the pulmonary artery is located directly beneath the aorta.

The below infographic tabulates more differences between aorta and pulmonary artery.

Summary – Aorta vs Pulmonary Artery

Aorta and pulmonary artery are two main important arteries in our body. Both carry blood away from the heart. However, aorta carries oxygenated blood from the heart to the rest of the body while the pulmonary artery carries deoxygenated blood from the right ventricle to lungs for purification. Thus, this is the key difference between aorta and pulmonary artery. Moreover, aorta originates from the left ventricle, and it branches into five smaller arteries while pulmonary artery originates from the right ventricle and it branches into two main pulmonary arteries. Also, aorta is located at the top of the heart while the pulmonary artery is located directly beneath the aorta. Furthermore, the aorta has a thick wall compared to the pulmonary artery. Besides, there is a high blood pressure within the aorta. So, this summarizes the difference between aorta and pulmonary artery.

Reference:

1. “Boundless Anatomy and Physiology.” Lumen, Available here.
2. Craig O. Weber, MD. “The Pulmonary Artery: Where Blue Blood Goes to Get Red Again.” Verywell Health, 17 Aug. 2020, Available here.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Aorta segments” By User:Mikael Häggström – source image by Edoarado – (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia 
2. “Diagram of the human heart (cropped)” By Wapcaplet – Own work (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia