Lecture 33:

Respiratory System
BIOL212 12/1
 Terminal Smoooth
bronchiole muscle
Branch of
pulmonary
Branch of vein
pulmonary
artery

Nasal
Nasal passages
passages
Mouth
Mouth
Pharynx
Pharynx
Larynx
Alveolus Pulmonary
Trachea
capillaries

Cartilaginous Alveolar
ring Pores of Kohn sac

(b) Enlargement of alveoli (air sacs)

Right Left at terminal ends of airways
bronchus
bronchus
Bronchiole

Terminal bronchiole

Alveolar sac

Terminal bronchiole

(a) Respiratory airways

Question: Use QR12.1.1

What part of the nervous system

would you expect to play a role in
increasing respiratory volume?
Airway Resistance Influences Airflow Rates

• Bronchoconstriction: decrease in the

radius of bronchioles
• Bronchodilation: increase in bronchiolar
radius
● Factors affecting airway resistance

○ See Table 13-1

Airway Resistance is Abnormally Increased with
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
• Chronic bronchitis
• Asthma
• Emphysema
• Difficulty in expiring
The Lungs’ Elastic Behavior Results from
Elastin Fibers and Alveolar Surface Tension
• Compliance and elastic recoil
● Compliance: how much effort is required to
stretch or distend the lungs
● Elastic recoil: how readily lungs rebound after
having been stretched
• Alveolar surface tension
● Surface tension: force produced by unequal
attraction
Pulmonary Surfactant Decreases Surface
Tension and Contributes to Lung Stability
● Pulmonary surfactant

○ Complex mixture of lipids and proteins secreted by Type II alveolar cells

Pulmonary Surfactant Decreases Surface
Tension and Contributes to Lung Stability
● Newborn respiratory distress syndrome

○ Symptoms produced as a result of an insufficient amount of pulmonary surfactant being

produced to reduce the alveolar surface tension to manageable levels
The Work of Breathing Normally Requires Only
About 3% of Total Energy Expenditure
• Increased when pulmonary compliance is
decreased, airway resistance is increased,
elastic recoil is decreased, and when there
is a need for increased ventilation
● The lungs normally operate about “half full”

○ Lung volumes and capacities

○ Respiratory dysfunction
Alveolar Ventilation is Less Than Pulmonary
Ventilation Because of Dead Space
• Anatomic dead space
• Alveolar ventilation
• Effect of breathing patterns on alveolar
ventilation
• Alveolar dead space
Local Controls Act on Bronchiolar and
Arteriolar Smooth Muscle
● To match airflow to blood flow

○ Effect of CO2 on bronchiolar smooth muscle

○ Effect of O2 on pulmonary arteriolar smooth muscle

13.3 Gas Exchange

● Gases move down partial pressure gradients

○ Partial pressures: individual pressure exerted independently by a particular gas within a

mixture of gases

○ Partial pressure gradients: difference in partial pressure between the capillary blood and the
surrounding structures
Gas Exchange

● O2 enters and CO2 leaves the blood in the lungs down partial pressure
gradients

○ Alveolar PO2 and PCO2

■ As atmospheric air enters the respiratory passages, exposure to moist airways saturates it
with H2O

■ Alveolar P O2
is lower than atmospheric PO2

○ PO2 and PCO2 gradients across the pulmonary capillaries

■ As blood passes through the lungs, it picks up O 2

and gives up CO2 by diffusion down
partial pressure gradients between blood and alveoli
Factors Other Than the Partial Pressure
Gradient Influence the Rate of Gas Transfer
• Fick’s law of diffusion
● Diffusion rate of a gas through a sheet of
tissue depends on the surface area and
thickness of the membrane through which the
gas is diffusing and on the diffusion constant
of the particular gas
● See Table 13-5
Additional Important Effects to Consider

• Effect of surface area on gas exchange

• Effect of thickness on gas exchange
• Effect of diffusion constant on gas
exchange
Gas Exchange Across the Systemic
Capillaries
● Also Occurs Down Partial Pressure Gradients

○ PO2 and PCO2 gradients across the systemic capillaries

○ Net diffusion of O2 and CO2 between the alveoli and tissues

13.4 Gas Transport

• Most O2 in the blood is transported bound to hemoglobin

○ Physically dissolved O2

■ Little O 2
physically dissolves in plasma water because O2 is poorly soluble in body
fluids

○ Oxygen bound to hemoglobin

■ Hemoglobin, an iron-bearing protein molecule contained within the red blood cells, can
form a loose, easily reversible combination with O2
Gas Transport

● The PO2 is the primary factor determining the percent hemoglobin saturation

○ O2–Hb dissociation curve

○ Significance of the plateau portion of the O2–Hb curve

○ Significance of the steep portion of the O2–Hb curve

Hemoglobin Promotes the Net Transfer of O2 at
Both the Alveolar and the Tissue Levels
• Role of Hb at the alveolar level
● Hemoglobin acts as a “storage depot” for O2
● , removing O2 from solution as soon as it
enters the blood from the alveoli
• Role of Hb at the tissue level
● O2 immediately diffuses from the blood into
the tissues, lowering blood PO2
Factors at the Tissue Level Promote
Unloading of O2 from Hemoglobin
• Effect of CO2 on %Hb saturation
• Effect of acid on %Hb saturation
• Bohr effect
• Effect of temperature on %Hb saturation
• Comparison of these factors at the tissue
and pulmonary levels
• Effect of 2,3-bisphosphoglycerate on %Hb
saturation
Hemoglobin Has a Much Higher Affinity for
Carbon Monoxide Than for O2
• Hb’s affinity for CO is 240 times that of its
affinity for O2
• Most CO2 is transported in the blood as bicarbonate

○ Chloride shift

○ Haldane effect
Various Respiratory States are Characterized by
Abnormal Blood-Gas Levels
• Abnormalities in arterial PO2
• Abnormalities in arterial PCO2
• Consequences of abnormalities in arterial
blood gases
13.5 Control of Respiration

● Respiratory centers in the brain stem establish a rhythmic breathing pattern

○ Components of neural control of respiration

○ Inspiratory and expiratory neurons in the medullary center

○ Generation of respiratory rhythm

○ Influences from the pneumotaxic and apneustic centers

○ Hering–Breuer reflex
CO2 crosses the blood-brain barrier. The carbonic anhydrase reaction occurs
and the H+ created in the CSF stimulates the central chemoreceptors.
pH = -log [H+]
= measure of hydrogen
concentration
= a measure of the
acidity or alkalinity of
a solution

Normal blood pH = 7.4

(whereas in chemistry, point
of reference is pH =7.0)
Control of Respiration

● Ventilation magnitude is adjusted in response to three chemical factors

○ PO2, PCO2, and H+

● Decreased arterial PO2 increases ventilation only as an emergency

mechanism

○ Effect of a large decrease in PO2 on the peripheral chemoreceptors

○ Direct effect of a large decrease in PO2 on the respiratory center

Respiratory System

● The respiratory system regulates [H+] by controlling the rate of CO2 removal

○ Able to alter pulmonary ventilation and excretion of H+- generating CO2

● The respiratory system serves as the second line of defense against changes
in [H+]

○ Acts at a moderate speed when chemical buffer systems alone cannot minimize [H+] changes
CO2-Generated H+ in the Brain is Normally the
Main Regulator of Ventilation
• Effect of increased PCO2 on the central
chemoreceptors
• Direct effect of a large increase in PCO2
on the respiratory center
• Loss of sensitivity to PCO2 with lung
disease
Adjustments in Ventilation

● Response to changes in arterial H+ are important in acid–base balance

○ Aortic and carotid body peripheral chemoreceptors are highly responsive to fluctuations in
arterial H+ concentration

● Exercise profoundly increases ventilation by unclear mechanisms

○ See Table 13-9

Ventilation Can Be Influenced by Factors
Unrelated to the Need for Gas Exchange
• Protective reflexes, swallowing, pain, breathing, and hiccups

● During apnea, a person “forgets to breathe”; during dyspnea, a person feels

“short of breath”

○ Sudden infant death syndrome

○ Dyspnea