Lab 6 Prelab Flashcards
What is the function of the respiratory system?
Exchange gases b/t external environment and the body
How does air travel into the airways during ventilation?
Down a pressure gradient
Describe the pathway of air during ventilation.
- Entry through nose/mouth
- Passage through nasopharynx, oropharynx, glottis, larynx
- Entry into tracheobronchial tree
- Gas exchange at alveoli
Describe the branching of the airways.
Airways –> bronchi –> bronchioles –> respiratory bronchioles –> alveolar ducts
What makes up the conducting zone of the respiratory system? Characteristics?
- Trachea, bronchi, bronchioles, terminal bronchioles
- First 16 generations contain no alveoli and do not participate in gas exchange
- Anatomical dead space
What makes up the transitional and respiratory zones of the respiratory system? Characteristics?
- Respiratory bronchioles, alveolar ducts, alveolar sacs
- Alveolar ducts and alveoli begin to appear and gas exchange can occur
Where does gas exchange occur in the respiratory system?
At the alveolar-capillary unit
What is external respiration? What happens during this process?
Gas exchange occurring at the alveolar-capillary unit
- Air is humidified
- Gas is dissolved for diffusion down its partial pressure gradient
What are the characteristics of alveoli that make them ideal for gas exchange?
- Thin-walled
- Highly vascularized
What is internal respiration? What happens during this process?
Intracellular metabolic processes of mitochondria
- O2 diffuses into cells and tissues down partial pressure gradients and is used to generate ATP
- CO2 is produced and diffuses back out
What is the PO2 and PCO2 content in the venous blood?
- PO2 < 40 mmHg
- PCO2 > 46 mmHg
What is the PO2 and PCO2 content in the alveolar air?
- PO2 ~ 100 mmHg
- PCO2 ~ 40 mmHg
Describe oxygen transport involving hemoglobin. How many O2 molecules can bind to one Hb molecule? How is O2 delivered to the tissue?
- O2 diffuses into plasma and is loaded onto hemoglobin molecules
- A conformational shift allows more O2 to bind to Hb (up to 4 O2 per Hb)
- Arterial O2 saturation is usually 100%
- Change in PO2 and pH at the receiving tissue reduces Hb’s affinity for O2 –> O2 gets delivered to the tissue
After CO2 diffuses from the cell into the capillary blood, in what 3 major ways can it react? What % of the CO2 reacts in each way?
- ~8% will react slowly to form bicarbonate
- ~65% will enter RBCs and react rapidly w/ water and carbonic anhydrase (CA) to form bicarbonate
- ~27% will enter the RBC and react w/ terminal amine groups of blood proteins (primarily Hb), forming carbaminohemoglobin
What is intrapleural pressure?
Pressure at the interface of the lung and chest wall
What is “V dot”? Equation?
V = flow of air during ventilation
V = (Palv - Patm) / R
- R = 0
List the muscles of inspiration.
- Diaphragm
- External intercostals
What is the function of the diaphragm? Innervation?
- Contracts downward to expand the intrapleural space during inspiration
- Innervated by the phrenic nerve
What is the function of the external intercostals? Innervation?
- Contracts during deep breathing to raise and enlarge the rib cage
- Innervated by intercostal nerves
Describe the process of inspiration.
- Inspiratory muscles are activated to contract
- Thoracic volume increases
- Intrapleural pressure is reduced
- Alveoli enlarge passively and Palv is reduced
- Air flows into lungs
What muscles are involved in normal expiration?
None required during normal breathing b/c expiration is passive