Alveoli and

Gas Exchange
Blood Supply to the Lungs
Blood is supplied to the lungs from the Pulmonary Arteries – you have 2 of them. Your Left
Pulmonary Artery supplies blood to your left lung, and the Right Pulmonary Artery supplies
blood to your right lung.
Together, they receive about 5 L of blood a minute!
Every drop of your blood passes through this excretory organ approximately every minute –
more often if you’re exercising.
The pulmonary arteries divide into progressively smaller and smaller vessels until they become
capillaries that surround your respiratory bronchioles and alveoli.
Having supplied an alveolus, the capillaries reconnect into venules and larger veins, until they
become your pulmonary veins. You have four of those, two from each lung. They return blood
directly to the heart.
Alveoli
The rest of the respiratory system is important… it is!
It functions to get air to the alveoli and out again. And to make sure it has been cleaned up a bit
and humidified… name some other things the respiratory tree is good for…
But really, the alveoli are the site of the most important function:
◦ This is where Oxygen – vital for cellular respiration, and therefore
energy production, and therefore EVERYTHING – is able to enter
the body!
◦ And where Carbon Dioxide – the somewhat-toxic waste product of
cellular respiration – exits the body.
Alveolar Facts
Alveoli, and the air spaces they contain, make up the vast majority of the volume of the lung.
Although each one is very small, you have about 480 million of them
(No one actually counted, they all use estimation methods and the value is somewhere between 274 and
790 million)
Collectively they have a surface area that is very large – estimates vary again – 50 – 100m2
Alveoli consist of epithelial tissue – a simple squamous epithelium
The cells that line the alveoli are call pneumocytes – there are two types of pneumocytes
I – these are the majority of the alveolar surface and gases exchange across them
II – these are present in much smaller numbers and are responsible for manufacturing
surfactant
Gas Exchange
Gas exchange occurs when oxygen and carbon dioxide move between the air space inside the
alveoli and the blood stream.
Both gases are small molecules that are able to be transferred by simple diffusion directly across
the phospholipid bilayer. There are no carriers, channels or energy involved.
In the air there is a negligible amount of carbon dioxide (<0.04%) and there is plentiful oxygen
(~21%)
The blood supplied to the lungs (from the Pulmonary Arteries) has already circulated around the
body. It has been depleted of oxygen and is carrying the carbon dioxide wastes.
These two things result in significant concentration gradients for both CO2 and O2.
As they move down their respective gradients – oxygen moves into the blood and CO2 moves
into the air space
What makes lungs sooo Awesome?
Their prime job is gas exchange. Lungs (and alveoli in particular) have a number of features that
optimise their function as exchange surfaces for gases:
Massive Surface Area – half a tennis court, or there abouts (increases the amount that can be
exchanged)
Thin exchange membrane – The air and blood are separated by only two very thin cells, with
virtually no space between them (increases the rate of exchange)
Concentration Gradient – this is maintained by the frequent exchange of gas (through
ventilation) and the constant blood flow removing oxygenated blood and replacing it with
deoxygenated blood (increases the amount and rate of exchange). The fantastic volume of blood
circulating through the lungs increases this again!
A very thin layer of fluid – gases will not diffuse until they have dissolved in liquid. This moist
environment is aided by the nose humidifying air and by the protected, internal, position of the
lungs which help to prevent evaporation of the fluid
Gas Concentrations
Inspired Air Expired Air
Oxygen ~21% ~ 16%
Carbon Dioxide 0.04% ~4%