What is the function of the coronary arteries?

Coronary arteries are arteries that arise from the aorta and supply the heart muscle with oxygenated blood. As the heart is a muscle it has a very high respiratory rate and therefore oxygen requirement. Blockage of the coronary arteries leads to death of the heart muscle that would normally be supplied and this leads to a myocardiac infarction, i.e. a heart attack.

The coronary arteries branch off of the Aorta soon after blood leaves the heart. As well as supplying oxygenated blood to your entire body for respiration, your heart is also a tissue that needs to receive oxygenated blood. Therefore the coronary arteries deliver blood to your heart muscle in order for it to respire and keep on pumping blood. Blockage of these arteries is what causes heart attack which causes the heart muscle to die