What type of blood vessel carries blood without oxygen and nutrients from surrounding tissues back to the heart?

Veins are the type of blood vessels responsible for carrying deoxygenated blood, which lacks oxygen and essential nutrients, away from the body tissues and back to the heart. The primary function of veins is to return blood after it has delivered its oxygen and nutrients to the cells and collected waste products.

In the circulatory system, once the blood has traveled through the arteries and reached the capillaries, the exchange of gases and nutrients occurs. After this exchange, the blood, now depleted of oxygen and filled with carbon dioxide and metabolic waste, enters the venous system. Veins feature thinner walls compared to arteries, allowing them to expand to accommodate varying volumes of blood. They also have one-way valves that prevent the backflow of blood, ensuring that it continues towards the heart.

Capillaries serve as the sites of exchange between blood and tissues but do not carry blood themselves; they are tiny blood vessels linking arteries and veins. Venules are small blood vessels that collect blood from capillaries and channel it into veins, but they do not carry blood independently back to the heart. Meanwhile, arteries are responsible for transporting oxygenated blood away from the heart to the tissues. Thus, veins are uniquely suited to the task of returning deoxygenated