Week 21: (B) Dynamic Mechanics of Breathing Flashcards
What are the 3 factors of dynamic force?
Resistance
Flow
Turbulence
What is dynamic force?
How gas moves through the airways
What is Poiseuille’s Law? RESISTANCE
Suggests smallest tubes have greatest airway resistance…….but there are lots of them so the cumulative resistance is actually lower.
What part of the airways has the highest resistance?
Upper airways 90%
What are the factors that influence resistance?
- Lung volume and branching
- Bronchiolar smooth muscle tone
- Density and viscosity of gases
What effects density and viscosity of gases?
- Affected by altitude.
- Important consideration in artificial environments (Space, deep sea).
- Laminar flow is a function of gas viscosity but turbulent flow depends on gas density
What lines the upper airway?
smooth muscle
What causes a decrease in the radius of the ‘tube’ ?
muscular contraction
What induces the smooth muscle contraction in the airways?
- Parasympathetic activity,
- Ach neurotransmission
- Irritants (smoke, allergens),
- Decreased alveolar PCO2
What causes an increase in the radius of the ‘tube’?
muscular relaxation
What induces the smooth muscle relaxation in the smooth muscle?
- Sympathetic activity
- Pulmonary stretch (see last slide),
- NAdr (neural – weak)
- Adr (b2 – circulating, strong) [and Salbutamol].
What are the effects of beta blockers (propanol) for asthmatic people?
Muscle spasms that make it difficult to breathe.
Cause constriction of the airways
What is the effect of hyper reactivity of smooth muscle?
contracts more intensely with duration of exposure
HYPERTROPHY
What causes allergic inflammation of the airways? (2)
1) Dust mite fecal allergen
Der p 2, 5
2) Cat saliva allergen
Fel d 1
What are the consequences to an allergic inflammation of the airways?
Hyper-reactivity of airway smooth muscle contraction
Bronchial smooth muscle thickening
hypertrophy
What is the effect of contraction of parabronchial smooth muscle?
raises upper airway resistance
Where is the bulk of resistance?
trachea and branch generation 5
Gas moves into the lungs via convection until when?
low resistance zone when it moves via diffusion
What is the low resistance zone?
moves at crows oxygen permeation co-efficient
O2 moves forward at its own molecular rate of diffusion through bulk air.
Loses its convection effect, moves to respiratory acinus by diffusion as it moves into its own molecular velocity
In normal lungs where is the low resistance zone located ?
respiratory acinus