When cardiac ejection ceases during diastole, what is the most important factor maintaining blood flow in arteries of the body? A. Contraction of skeletal muscle B. Closing the venous valves C. Elastic recoil of the arteries close to heart D. Contraction of the atria
Option C. Arteries store elastic potential energy of their distended elastic walls, so that after ventricular contraction ceases, the elastic artery wall recoil, forcing blood to maintain shifting away from the heart.
