How does the aorta artery get its oxygen?

Question

As in, how does it get oxygen for itself. I'm thinking something similar to what happens in the coronary arteries, that are supplied by small openings in the right and left cusps of the aortic semilunar valve in the ventricular diastole. So, something like small openings along the aorta itself to supply capillaries. But I'm not sure, and I can't seem to find anything regarding this question. So, a suggestion with a source please (source welcome especially if suggested that it happens by simple diffusion from the blood coursing the aorta).

Answer 1

I believe it comes from the coronary arteries themselves.

Answer 2

Bravo Dr. Marie! You have to pick this as the best answer, it doesn't get any better than this!

Answer 3

The aorta is a very thickly-walled artery, and arteries have their own blood vessels that run through those walls--they are called the vasa vasorum ("vessel of the vessels", in Latin).  The aorta has three layers, from the innermost to the outermost:  the tunica intima, the tunica media, and the tunica adventitia.  The vasa vasorum are contained in the adventitia and, in the case of the aorta, probably penetrate to the media.  Here's a website where you can look at them:  http://www.columbia.edu/itc/hs/medical/s...

As far as where they get their oxygen, it's not from diffusion from blood coursing through the aorta because diffusion only happens in the very smallest of vessels--the capillaries.  Vasa vasorum are capillaries, but they get their oxygen from unnamed vessels that run outside of the aorta.  It is thought, however, that the innermost layers of the aorta (the intima and the inner part of the media) get their oxygen directly from the blood flowing within it.