Respiration. Flashcards
(31 cards)
Describe the different processes of respiration. Breathing, Gas exchange (internal), Gas transport, Gas exchange (external), (Usage of O2 to make ATP)
- Breathing
- no exchange
- ventilatin = air movement (only in the conduction zone), no exchange of gasses
- Gas exchange (external)
- lung alveoli with blood capillaries
- Gas transport
- Hemoglobin for O2 and bicarbonate for CO2
- Gas exchange (internal)
- blood capillaries with tissue cells (body except lung)
- Usage of O2 to make ATP
- cellular respiration uses O2 to produce ATP
What are the functions of respiratory system?
- Respiration (gas exchange)
- Sound production
- via larynx
- Odor detectin (olfactory sense)
- sensory nerves with nerve endings and immobile cilia
- pH regular
- Effects blood pressure
- respiratory pump - influences venous return
- ACE –> converts Ang 1 to Ang 2 Vasoconstriction
Describe the changes in cell epithelium as you progress through the respiratory system.
What do goblet cells do?
- Starting with pseudostratifeid ciliated columnar cells
- Relatively resistant to deflection
- More importantly contains goblet cells
- Goblet cells produce Mucin, mixes with water, allows mucus to be transported, for moisturing the epithelium and also for humidifying the air coming in, and moving particulate matter down to be coughed up or swallowed.
- Simple cilitated columnar epithelium
- simple ciliated cuboidal epithelium
- simple squamous epithelium
- single layer basement membrane thats located in the alveoli
- Exception non-keratinized stratfied squamous epithelium
- mouth and oropharynx
- General structure
- The mucosa is composed of epithelium resting on a basement membrane and underlying lamina propria which is composed of areolar connective tissue.
What is cellular structure of the upper respiratory tract/paranasal sinuses
What is its function?
- Continuous with the nasal cavity, sinuses, into the nasopharynx
- Structure
- lined by pseudostratified ciliated columnar epithelium continuous with nasal cavity mucosa
- Mucus swept into the pharynx and swallowed
- Function
- warm, humidify clean incoming air
- lighten the weight of the skull
- give resonance to the voice.
What is the mucociliary escalator?
- Cillia move against the airflow towards the pharynx, starting in the trachea to the bronchioles.
- sweeps mucus towards towards the larynx so particulate matter and mucus can be removed.
- Coordinated movement of the cilia is termed the escalator.
- Cilia sweep toward the pharynx to be swallowed or coughed up
Describe the distribution of cartilage throughout the respiratory tract starting with the trachea. What is its function?
- Trachea
- contains C-shaped rings that hold the trachea open without energy expenditure
- posterior side you have a muscular layer/smooth muscle layer that is part of the boundary between the esophagus and the trachea.
- Left and right main bronchus
- Cartilage starts to become full rings.
- lobar bronchi
- full rings start to become cartilaginous plates
- segmental bronchi –> smaller bronchi
- inside the lobe of a lung, start to get less and less cartilaginous plates
- Bronchiole –> Terminal bronchiole –> respiratory bronchiole –> alveoli
- respiratory bronchiole, no cartilage, all smooth muscle.
What nervous system is responsible for bronchoconstritction/dilation
Dilation = sympathetic
constriction = para
Describe the path of air once it reaches respiratory bronchiole. How does the bronchiole get its blood supply?
- Respiratory bronchiole –> alveolar duct –> alveoli
- Alveoli is where external gas exchange is going to occur
- Bronchioles recieve their blood supply from the systemic circulation, not the pulmonary artery.
What is the respiratory zone? What occurs here?
- Respiratory bronchiole
- alveoli
- respiratory membrane
- We have pockets of cells 4-5
- they include capillaries, alveolar type I and Type II cells.
- Type I = respiratory membrane
- Type II = produce surfactant
- Also have macrophages in this area
- phagocytize anything that shouldn’t be there
- Also have alveolor pores in the septum of alveoli
- allows air to move from one alveoli to another based on pressure
- the alveolar epithelium (primarily type I cells) is fused with the endothelial endothelium in a basement membrane
- this means that there is only 3 layers that the gas exchange has to go through
- More than 3 layers, slows down gas exchange - ie fluid in the lungs.
Describe the function of the following 4 systems in regards to the lungs.
Pulmonary circulation
bronchial circulation
lymph drainage
autonomic nervous system
- Pulmonary circulatoin
- replenishies oxygen and eliminates CO2, pulm veins can recieve blood from bronchiole veins
- bronchial circulation
- part of systemic circulation (thoracic transports oxygenated blood to bronchi and bronchioles (aorta)
- Lymph drainage
- within the lung, around the bronchi and in the pleura.
- collects particles and pollutatns not removed by the cilia
- within the lung, around the bronchi and in the pleura.
- autonomic nervous system innervates
- larynx => innervated only by PNS, vagus nerve
- Trachea and bronchial tree => sympathetic and parasympathetic I.
- Lungs => sympathetic (exits T1-T5, sympathetic chain) causes bronchodilation
- parasympathetic, vagus n, usually bronchoconstriction
Describe the location of pleural membranes, whats inbetween them?
- Visceral pleura - on the lungs themselves
- parietal pleura - on the thoracic cavity
- In between there is a pleural cavity, this cavity is filled with fluid.
- these cavities are seperated, on each side. Helps with if there is damage to one or if there is infection. this is called compartmentalization
Describe the 4 respiratory processes?
- Pulmonary ventilation
- Air containing CO2 is exhaled
- air containing o2 is inhaled
- Alveolar gas exchange
- o2 moves into the blood
- this is termed external gas exchange
- gas transport
- blood containing o2 is moved throughout the body
- systemic gas exchange
- o2 moves into the systemic cells
- Co2 then moves into the blood
- this is termed internal gas exchange
- gas transport
- blood containing co2 moves through the body and back into the lungs
- alveolar gas exchange
- Co2 moves into the alveoli where it can be exchanged with o2 once again.
What is pulmonary ventilation based on?
- Based on a respiratory cycle
- Single cycle of inspiration and expiration
- inspiration –> active process (muscle contraction)
- leads to lung expansion –> increased volume
- affects pressure –> initially decreasing pressure in pleural cavity –> translates to a decrease in pressure in the lung itself, air comes in.
- expiration - passive process (muscle relaxation)
- leads to decrease in lung volume
- increases pressure and air moves out.
- inspiration –> active process (muscle contraction)
- Single cycle of inspiration and expiration
- Normal respiratory rate is termed Eupnea
- 12-15 breaths/min
- Gas pressure and volume –> inverse relationship

Why does the lung remain inflated?
- The lung remains inflated because intrapulmonary pressure is greater than intrapleural pressure.
- The intrapulmonary pressure is great enough that it puts pressure against the intrapleural cavity and causes it to remain inflated.
Describe the pressures in the lung during quiet inspiration and quiet expiration.
- Quiet inspiration
- intrapulmonary pressure is equal to atm pressure
- atm = 760 mmHg
- intrapleural pressure = 756 mmHg
- intrapulmonary pressure = 760 mmHg
- Intrapulmonary pressure becomes less than the atomospheric pressure; air flows in.
- air flows in ~500mL in a quiet breath
- intrapleural cavity volume increases, and pressure decreases 754mmHg
- alveolar volume increases, intrapulmonary pressure decreases. 759mmHg
- intrapulmonary pressure is equal to atm pressure
- quiet expiration
- intrapulmonary pressure = atm pressure
- intrapulmonary pressure becomes greater than the atmospheric pressure and air flows out.
- Pleural cavity volume decreases, pressure increases 756mmHg
- alveolar volume decreases, pressure increases, air flows out 761mmHg
What are the muscles used in quiet breathing and forced breathing including inspiration and expiration.
- Quiet breathing
- diaphragm
- external intercostal
- Forced breathing
- inhalation
- sternocliedomastoid
- scalene muscles
- seratus posterior and superior
- pec minor
- erector spinae
- exhalation
- transverse thoracis
- serratus posterior inferior
- internal intercostal
- external oblique
- transversus abdominal.
- inhalation
What are the three changes in volume that occur with the thoracic cage? What do these establish?
- Volume changes lead to pressure changes, establishes a gradient for airflow
- Boyle’s law - inverse pressure and volume relationship
- Vertical changes
- Diaphragm contracts and vertical demensions of the thoracic cavity increase
- diaphragm relaxes and vertical dimensions of thoracic cavity narrow
- lateral changes
- ribs are elevated and thoracic cavity widens
- ribs are depressed and thoracic cavity narrows
- anterior/posterior changes
- inferior portion of the sternum moves anteriorly and the thoracic cavity expands
- inferior portion of the sternum moves posteriorly and the thoracic cavity compresses
Review the respiratory volumes and capacities.
Tidal volume = normal respiration ~500
Inspiratory reserve volume - max air you can take in after a normal inhalation
inspiratory capacity - from exhale to biggest breath
expiratory reserve volume - volume left in lungs after normal breath
residual volume - volume in lungs you can’t exhale
Functional residual capacity - ERV +RV
Note - capacities always include more than 1 measurement
Volume = specific measurement

What are factors influencing airflow?
- Resistance => bronchial tree and trachea = variable resistance (mucus)
- variable resistance via the autonomic NS
- bronchodilation = sympathetic
- bronchoconstriction = parasymp
- variable resistance via the autonomic NS
- Compliance - how easily the lung expands, influecned by factors that cause resistance to distension
- surface tension (influenced by the amount of surfactant)
- elasticity of lung tissue (tendency to return to initial size)
- mobility of the thoracic cage
- alveolar ventilation (ml/min) = air vol./breath x respiration rate
- get a ml/breath
- Eupnea = 12-15 breath/min
- air volume = tidal volume - anatomical dead space (-physiological dead space)
What is the general concept of the law of laplace?
- Law of lapace states that pressure in the alveolus is directly proportional to surface tension; and inversely related to the radius of the alveoli
- thus, pressure in smaller alveoli would be greater than in larger alveoli, if ST were the same in both
- greater pressure of smaller alveollus would cause it to move its empty air into the larger one. This occurs through bronchioles
Describe this picture in generation of breathing.

- Respiratory center in the cerebral cortex.
- Motor output coming from the cerebral cortex goes down through midbrain through the pontine respiratory center and then goes to the skeletal muscles of breathing.
- phrenic nerve to the diaphragm
- intercostal nerves to the intercostal muscles
- If you need more breath in
- still coming from the respiratory center of the cerebral cortex but then also going to the accessory muscles.
- Motor output coming from the cerebral cortex goes down through midbrain through the pontine respiratory center and then goes to the skeletal muscles of breathing.
- Other sensory receptors
- irritant receptors in the lungs, baroreceptors,
- proprioceptors - in the skeletal muscle, all tell the lungs to breath a little faster.
- These have input into the dorsal respiratory group.
- Also have chemoreceptors
- central chemoreceptors that detect changes in pH/Co2 or bicarb levels in the CSF
- these send information to the pontine respiratory center.
- central chemoreceptors that detect changes in pH/Co2 or bicarb levels in the CSF
- chemoreceptors in the carotid bodies and the aortic arch,
- peripheral chemoreceptors, detects increased CO2, increased H+ and decreased O2
- This information goes to the Dorsal respiratory group.
- DRG sends impulses to VRG
- this sends impulses to increase breathing.
Control of breathing - sensory
- Input to the respiratory centers
- chemoreceptors - CO2, O2, pH
- central: in medulla oblongata
- peripheral: carotid and aortic bodies
- proprioceptors
- muscles and joints –> activity and mobility
- stretch receptors
- vagus nerves –> decreases breathing depth
- irritant receptors
- in respiratory epithelium of conduction zone (mucosa)
- chemoreceptors - CO2, O2, pH
Control of breathing - REGULATION
- Brain stem respiratory centers
- medulla oblongata
- VRG –> sets rhythym, 2 sec inhalation/3 sec exhalation
- DRG –> influences by senosry neurons (adjusts rhythm)
- pontine respiratory group
- override (crying)
- medulla oblongata
- Higher centers: hypothalamus, limbic system, cerebral cortex.
Terminology for respiratory rhythm
- eupnea –> relaxed quiet brething characterized by tidal volume 500ml and respriatory rate of 12-15
- apnea - temporary cessation of breathing
- dyspnea - labored, gasping breathing; shortness of breath
- hypercapnea - increased rate and depth of breathing in response to exerise, pain, or other conditions
- hyperventilatoin - increased pulmonary ventilation in excess of metabolic demand (respiratory alkalosis, decrease CO2)
- hypoventilatino - reduced pulmonary ventilation
- Kussmaul respiratoin - deep, rapid breathing, often induced by acidosis (diabetes)
- orthopnea - dysnpnea that occurs when a person is lying down
- respiratory arrest - permanent cessation of breathing
- hypercapnia - elevated PCO2 in the blood >43mmHG
- Hypocapnia - low PCO2 in the blood <37 mmHg

