Anatomy of the Respiratory Tract Flashcards
What are the functions of the respiratory system?
- Provide oxygen to all body tissues
- providing a large surface area for gas exchange
ventilation (providing air) - Remove carbon dioxide
- Regulate blood pH
- Defence against pathogens
- protecting respiratory surfaces from dehydration and temperature changes
- Produces sound
- Olfaction (sensation of smell)
How can the respiratory tract be organised?
- upper or lower
- conductive or respiratory
What makes up the upper respiratory tract?
- Nose
- Pharynx
- Paranasal sinuses
- Larynx
What are the functions of the upper respiratory tract?
- Warms and moistens and filters the air
- Olfaction (smell)
- Production and resonation of sound (produces in larynx, resonates as it gets moved up through the passageways)
- (protects lower tract)
What are the functional adaptations of the nose?
- vibrissae
- conchae
- mucosa
- rich capillary network under mucosa
- seromucous glands
- olfactory mucosa
- paranasal sinuses
What are the vibrissae?
hairs at entrance to nose which trap large dust particles
What are the Conchae?
Projections from lateral wall which produce turbulence
Allow more time to warm and moisten the air
Means airborne particles are more likely to come into contact with the mucous
Creates circular air-currents that bring olfactory stimuli to the olfactory receptors
What’s the mucosa and what does it do?
Pseudostratified ciliated columnar epithelium with goblet cells
Goblet cells produce mucous to trap particles
Cilia waft the trapped particles to pharynx where they can be swallowed
What does having a rich capillary network in the nose do?
the blood warms the air
What do the seromucous glands do?
secretions moisten the air
What are the Olfactory mucosa and what do they do?
Located in upper aspect of nose, above the superior conchae
Contains receptors for smell
What are the paranasal sinuses and what do they do??
Air filled spaces in bones around the nose
Lighten the skull and resonate sound
Secretions for the sinuses drain into nasal cavity
What is the pharynx?
A fibromuscular tube that forms a communal passageway for respiratory and gastrointestinal systems
What three regions is the pharynx divided into?
Nasopharynx – posterior (behind) to nose
Oropharynx – posterior to mouth
Laryngopharynx – posterior to larynx
What does the close proximity of gastrointestinal and respiratory systems lead to?
swallowing difficulties and aspiration of food and fluid
What are the main functions of the Larynx?
Maintains an open airway Prevents food and drink entering the lower respiratory tract Sound production Involved in coughing Involved in defaecation
What does the Larynx consist of?
A cartilaginous skeleton (thyroid cartilage is Adam’s apple) (hyoid bone)
A lining made of membranes – joins the cartilage inside
Vocal cords – made of edges of membranes. Important in sounds projection and protecting the airway
Muscles which move the vocal cords
Glottis
What is the glottis and what does it do?
When air comes in it passes down through the glottis
Slit like opening
Space between the vocal cords
Usually open to allow air flow
Closed during swallowing to prevent aspiration
Air vibrates over the vocal cords to produce sound
The wider the cords are open the louder the sound
What is the lower respiratory tract made up of?
- Trachea
- Primary bronchi
- Secondary bronchi
- Tertiary bronchi
- Bronchioles
- Terminal bronchioles
- Respiratory bronchioles
- Alveolar ducts
- Alveolar sacs
- Alveoli
What is the trachea?
- Tough, flexible tube, 4.5cm long, 2.5cm in diameter
- Extends from the larynx to the carina
- Lies anterior to the oesophagus (oesophagus is just behind)
- Contains 15-20 horseshoe shaped cartilages which keep airway open
- Posterior ends of cartilage are joined by trachealis muscle which constricts during coughing. Also is soft for when oesophagus expands
- Lined by pseudostratified ciliated columnar epithelium with goblet cells
What do pseudostratified ciliated columnar epithelium with goblet cells do?
- Acts as a mucociliary escalator
- Mucus layer which traps dust particle
- Cilia aft particles up to the larynx where they get swallowed and ingested
What is the bronchial tree made up of?
- Bronchi Primary Secondary Tertiary - Bronchioles Bronchioles Terminal Bronchioles Respiratory bronchioles
What are the histological changes displayed as you go down the bronchial tree?
Amount of cartilage decreases
Amount of smooth muscle increases
Height of epithelial cells decrease (columnar -> cuboidal -> flattened)
What are the primary bronchi and what do they do?
Supply each lung
2-3cm long
Right is wider and more vertical than left
Left is more horizontal – means that foreign bodies are less likely to get through
C-shaped cartilages (similar to trachea) – incomplete behind with muscle at the back
What are the secondary bronchi (lobar) and what do they do?
Supply lobes of the lung (3 on right, 2 on left)
Plates of cartilage (in small pieces) still cover all of the secondary bronchi though
What are the tertiary bronchi and what do they do?
Supply segments of the lung (10 on right, 8 on left)
Plates of cartilage (smaller than secondary bronchus). Between cartilage there is connective tissue and smooth muscle.