1.

Enumerate and describe the functions of the respiratory system

in general.
To provide oxygen.
To eliminate carbon dioxide.
To regulate the bodys ion concentration (pH) in coordination with the kidneys.
To form speech sound (phonation).
To defend against microbes.
To influence arterial concentration of chemical messengers by removing some
from pulmonary capillary blood and producing adding others to this blood.
To trap and to dissolve blood clots arising from systemic (usually leg) veins.

A. Gas Exchange
Oxygenated blood Leaves the lungs via the pulmonary veins and is pumped
by the left ventricle through the systemic arteries.
Arteries conduct the oxygenated blood to the systemic capillaries, which are
associated with all the respiring cells of the body.
Likewise, the principal waste product of metabolism, carbon dioxide is
transported away from the respiring cells via the systemic veins to the lungs
for elimination.

B. Defense Mechanism
Mechanical defenses
Sneeze, cough, and bronchospasm expel particles
Mucus limits particle penetration.
Mucuciliary escalator transport particles.
Phagocytic defences
Alveolar macrophage
At juxta-alveolar regions of connective tissue: lymphatic vessels,
histiocytes, mast cells.
Along the major bronchi and subsegmental bronchi: lymph nodes
Submucosal glands release lysozyme, lactoferin, and antileukoproteinases
which possess antimicrobial properties.

C. Acid-Base Balance
Increases in carbon dioxide lead to increases in hydrogen ion concentration
(and vice versa)
Respiratory system can therefore participate in acid-base balance by removing
CO
2
from the body.
The central nervous system has sensors for the CO
2
and the hydrogen ion
levels in the arterial blood and in the cerebrospinal fluid that send information
to the controllers of breathing.





D. Phonation
Production of sounds by the movement of air through the vocal cords.
Speech, singing, and other sounds are produced by the actions of the central
nervous system controllers on the muscles of respiration, causing air to flow
through the vocal cords and the mouth.

E. Metabolic Functions
Formation and release into blood of substances produced by lung cells
Bradykinin, histamine, serotonin, heparin, prostaglandins E
2
and F
2
,
and the endoperoxidases (prostaglandins G
2
and H
2
) are all produced
and/or stored by cells in the lungs.
May be releases into the general circulation under various
circumstances. For example, heparin, serotonin, and prostaglandins E
2

and F
2
are released during anaphylactic shock.
Formation and release of chemical substances for local use
Pulmonary surfactant, which is synthesized in type II alveolar
epithelial cells and released at the alveolar surface.
o Surfactant plays an important role in reducing the alveolar
elastic recoil due to surface tension and in stabilizing the
alveoli.
o A number of factors may modulate surfactant secretion,
including glucocorticoids, epidermal growth factor, cAMP, and
distension of the lung.
Histamine, lysosomal enzymes, prostaglandins, leukotrienes, platelet-
activating factor, neutrophil and eosinophil chemotactic factors, and
serotonin can be released from mast cells in the lungs in response to
conditions such as pulmonary embolism and anaphylaxis.
o May cause bronchoconstriction or immune or inflammatory
responses, or they may initiate cardiopulmonary reflexes.
If a chemical mediator involved in hypoxic pulmonary constriction, it
is produced in and acts in the lung.
o It is currently believed that hypoxia acts directly on the
pulmonary vascular smooth muscle cells by causing decreased
permeability to potassium ions, thereby decreasing the efflux
of potassium ions and depolarizing the cells.
o This response, however, may be modulated by mediators
released locally.
Many substances are also produced by cells of the lung and released
into the alveoli and airways, including mucus and other
tracheobronchial secretions, the surface enzymes, proteins and other
factors, and immunologically active substances.
Metabolism of vasoactive substances
Many vasoactive substances are inactivated, altered, or removed from
the blood as they pass through the lungs.
The site of this metabolic activity is the endothelium of the vessels of
the pulmonary circulation, which constitute a tremendous surface area
in contact with the mixed venous blood
These alterations of vasoactive substances in the lung imply several
things.
o Some substances released into specific vascular beds for local
effects are inactivated or removed as they pass through the
lungs, preventing them from entering the systemic circulation.
Other substances, apparently intended for more general effects,
are not affected.
o In the case of those substances that are affected by passing
through the lungs, there may be profound differences in the
response of a patient receiving an injection of infusion of one
of these substances, depending on whether it is administered
via arterial or venous catheter.

2. Describe the embryology of the respiratory system, to include:
2.1 Formation of the lung buds.
The development of the respiratory diverticulum (lung bud) can first be seen at
stage 12 (approximately 26 days), when there is a sharp onset of epithelial
proliferation within the foregut at regions of the endoderm tube destined to
become the lungs, stomach, liver and dorsal pancreas.
The specialist respiratory epithelium forms from the endoderm; the other elements
of the airway wall are of mesenchymal origin.
The future respiratory epithelium bulges ventrally into the investing
splanchnopleuric mesenchyme, and then grows caudally as a bulb-shaped tube.
By stage 13, the caudal end of the tube has divided asymmetrically to form the
future primary bronchi: with growth the right primary bronchus becomes
orientated more caudally whereas the left extends more transversely.
The trachea is clearly recognizable at stage 14. From this time the origin of the
trachea remains close to its site of evagination from the future oesophagus,
however, longitudinal growth of the trachea causes the region of the future carina
to descend.
Failure of complete separation between trachea and esophagus will result in the
baby being born with a tracheo-oesophageal fistula.
Lung development is controlled by groups of homeobox genes, transcription
factors and growth factors.
The formation of the lung bud is dependent on the transcription factors
hepatocyte nuclear factor-3 (HNF-3 ), thyroid transcription factor (TTF-1)
and sonic hedgehog (SHH).
Gli proteins and retinoic acid receptors are implicated in the mesenchymal-
epithelial cell interactions that are essential for lung branching morphogenesis.