Anatomy
Capillary
The smallest blood vessels, where exchange of oxygen, nutrients, and waste occurs between blood and tissues. Capillaries connect arteries to veins.
Biological Context
Capillary walls are just one cell thick, allowing diffusion. The human body contains about 40 billion capillaries with a total length of roughly 100,000 km. No cell is more than a few cells away from a capillary. Capillary density varies by tissue metabolic needs.
Business Application
Organizational capillaries: the fine-grained distribution networks that reach every part of the organization. Like biological capillaries, they're where actual exchange and delivery happens—the last mile of any distribution system.