Pulmonary Physiology (3) Flashcards
what is internal respiration? (2)
- systemic gas exchange
- exchange of O2 and CO2 between systemic capillaries and tissue cells
describe the PO2 of blood pumped into systemic capillaries versus PO2 in tissue cells during internal respiration
PO2 of blood pumped into systemic capillaries is higher (100mmHg) than PO2 in tissue cells (40mmHg)
why is the PO2 of systemic capillaries higher than the PO2 of blood in tissue cells?
pressure differences cause O2 to diffuse out of capillaries into tissue cells and blood PO2 drops to 40mmHg by the time blood exits systemic capillaries
what are tissue cells constantly producing as a result of metabolism?
CO2
describe the PCO2 of cells versus PCO2 of capillaries and what this results in
PCO2 of cells (45mmHg at rest) is higher than that of systemic capillary blood (40mmHg) so CO2 diffuses from tissue cells through interstitial fluid into systemic capillaries until PCO2 in blood increases to 45mmHg
what happens after PCO2 in blood increases to 45mmHg?
deoxygenated blood returns to the heart and is pumped to the lungs for external respiration
what percentage of available O2 in oxygenated blood does a person need at rest? what does this mean for the other percentage?
a person at rest needs only appoximately 25% of available O2 in oxygenated blood, so “deoxygenated blood” retains 75% of O2 content
what happens during exercise in terms of available O2?
more O2 diffuses into metabolically active cells
what 4 factors influence the rate of pulmonary and systemic gas exchange?
- partial pressure differences of gases
- surface area available for gas exchange
- diffusion distance
- molecular weight and solubility of gases
what must be true in order for oxygen to diffuse from alveolar air into blood?
alveolar PO2 must be higher than blood PO2 for oxygen to diffuse from alveolar air into blood
what happens to the rate of diffusion as pressure differences increase?
rate of diffusion is faster when pressure difference is greater
when does the differences between PO2 and PCO2 in alveolar air versus pulmonaary blood increase?
during exercise
what does the partial pressure of oxygen and CO2 depend on?
rate of airflow into and out of the lungs
what does increasing altitude do and what does this result in?
increasing altitude decreases total atmospheric pressure and decreased the partial pressure of O2
describe the relationship of PO2 of inhaled air and atmospheric pressure and what this results in for alveolar air and O2 diffusion
PO2 of inhlaed air decreases with increasing altitude and alveolar PO2 drops correspondingly, so O2 diffuses out of blood more slowly
list 5 symptoms of high altitude sickness
- shortness of breath
- headache
- fatigue
- nausea
- dizziness
describe the relationship between surface area and gas exchange
direct
describe the surface area of alevoli
huge, with many surrounding capillaries
what will pulmonary disorders that reduce surface area of respiratory membranes do to external respiration? give an example
will decrease rate of external respiration; pulmonary gas exchange is slowed in emphysema
how is diffusion distance related to rate of pulmonary and systemic gas exchange?
shorter distance means higher rate of diffusion
what minimizes the diffusion distance from alevolar air space to hemoglobin inside red blood cells? (2)
- thin respiratory membrane
- narrow capillaries
describe what pulmonary edema does to rate of gas exchange and why
causes a buildup of interstitial fluid between alveoli, which slows gas exchange because it increases diffusion distance
describe how molecular weight and solubility of gases is related to rate of gas exchange (2)
- lower molecular weight = faster diffusion
- higher solubility = greater diffusion
relate molecular weight and solubility of O2 and CO2 to their relative rates of gas exchange
O2 has a lower molecular weight than CO2, but CO2 is 24x more soluble in the fluid portion of the respiratory membrane than O2, so a net outward diffusion of CO2 occurs 20x more rapidly than net inward O2 diffusion
due to their molecular weights and solubility, when diffusion is slower than normal, as in the case of epmhysema or pulmonary edema, does hypoxia or hypercapnia occur first? why?
O2 insufficiency (hypoxia) occurs before major retention of CO2 (hypercapnia) since CO2 is diffusing outward at 20x the rate that O2 is diffusing inward
in what two ways and proportions is O2 transported within the body?
- 1.5% of inhaled O2 is dissolved in blood plasma
- 98.5% of blood O2 is bound to Hb in RBC
each 100mL of oxygenated blood contain the equivalent of how much gaseous oxygen? list how much is dissolved in plasma and how much is bound to Hb
20mL
0.3mL dissolved in plasma
19.7mL bound to Hb
what does the heme portion of each hemoglobin contain and what does it do and form?
the heme portion of hemoglobin contains 4 iron atoms, each of which can bind a molecule of O2 in a reversible reaction to form oxyhemoglobin
what is the most important factor in determining how muhc O2 binds to Hb and how does this relate?
PO2; the higher the PO2, the more O2 combines with hemoglobin
when is hemoglobin said to be fully saturated?
when reduced hemoglobin is completely converted to oxyhemoglobin
if each hemoglobin molecule has bound 2 O2 molecules, what % saturation?
50%
describe Hb when PO2 is higher
Hb binds with large amounts of O2
describe Hb when PO2 is lower
Hb only partially saturated
describe the PO2 of pulmonary capillaries and what this means to Hb
PO2 is high in pulmonary capillaries so lots of O2 binds to Hb
describe PO2 in tissue capillaries andwhat this means for Hb
PO2 is low in tissue capillaries so Hb does not hold as much O2, and dissolved O2 is unloaded via diffusion into tissue cells
at rest, what % of O2 is unloaded from Hb and used by tissue cells? what does this mean for Hb ar PO2 of 40mmHg?
only 25% of available O2 unloads from Hb at rest, so Hb is still 75% saturated with O2 at PO2 of 40mmHg