And collagen fibers give the blood vessels its strength. And these collagen fibers also anchor the blood vessel along the organs found surrounding our blood vessel. Now what are some properties of our arteries and how exactly does blood actually flow through the arteries? Well, as a result of a thick layer of smooth muscle that makes the artery not only elastic and stretchy, but it also gives it very high recoil capabilities. So what that basically means is as the blood actually flows through our blood vessel, through the artery, the artery slightly expands as a result of that increase in blood flow. But because it has a thick layer of smooth muscle, you can think of this as being a rubber band.