The human respiratory system consists of the nose, trachea, bronchi & a pair
of lungs.
Bronchus Bronchiole
Alveolus
The nostrils open into a nasal cavity with many olfactory hairs.
The olfactory hairs filter & prevent dust particles from entering the lungs.
The wall of the nasal cavity is lined with mucus membranes that keeps it moist
& helps to trap the dust.
The trachea connects the larynx with two bronchi that lead into the lungs.
In each of the lungs, the bronchus divides into tiny ducts called bronchioles.
O2 from the inhaled air diffuses through the thin wall of the alveolus into the
blood capillary
blood plasma.
In the plasma, O2 diffuse into the red blood cells & combines with Hb to form
oxyhaemoglobin.
At the same time, CO2 & water molecules from the blood capillary diffuse into
the alveolus.
The CO2 & water (in the form of vapour) is expelled from the body during
exhalation.
Mechanism of Ventilation
The alveoli provide a large surface area for gaseous exchange. The
respiratory surface of a human is made-up of over 700 million alveoli, inside a
pair of lungs.
The surfaces of the alveoli are moist for gases to dissolve before diffusion
can occur.
The alveoli have thin walls (one cell thick) which minimize the distance for
gas diffusion.
The alveoli are surrounded by numerous blood capillaries, which bring CO2
for diffusion into the alveoli & carry away O 2 to the circulatory blood system.
One Hb molecule can bind loosely & reversibly with 4 molecules of O 2 to form
oxyhaemoglobin molecule.
Hb + 4O2
Hb (O2)4
Because each Hb molecule consists of 4 haem groups, each red blood cell of
mammal can transport a total of about 1000 x 10 6 O2 molecules.
The high capacity of red blood cells in transporting O 2 molecules is due to the
fact that the red blood cells do not contain nuclei & the surface area to volume
ratio of the biconcave disc shaped cells is extremely high.
The high efficiency of the Hb in absorbing O 2 can be explained as
follows:
When the PO2 is high as in the lung capillaries, Hb has a high affinity for O 2 to
form Hb(O2)4.
When the PO2 is low as in the respiring tissues, the Hb(O 2)4 dissociates & O2
is liberated.
The sigmoid shape of the O2 dissociation curve shows that blood can be
saturated with O2 even at a very low PO2.This is what is meant by the high
affinity pf Hb for O2.
The sigmoid shape of the O 2 dissociation curve also shows that the
percentage of O2 saturation in Hb declines steeply as the O2 pressure falls.
Increase in CO2 pressure will shift the O2 dissociation curve to the right.
This means that as the CO2 pressure increases, the rate of O2 combination
with Hb decreases, or the dissociation of O 2 from oxyhemoglobin is more
efficient.
Therefore, the rate of O 2 dissociate from Hb(O2)4 is higher in the tissues that
contain higher CO2 pressure due to respiration.
The fetal Hb is one of a type which has a higher affinity for O 2 than the
mothers Hb. O2 is therefore readily unloaded from the mothers blood to the
fetal blood.
A graph for fetal Hb shows a shift to the left from curve for adult Hb.
About 5% of the CO2 does not diffuse into the red blood cells, but dissolves
into the plasma & becomes carbonic acid, H 2CO3, and carried as such in the
blood.
CO2 can combine with the amino group at one end of the
haemoglobin p/peptide to form a neutral carbamino-haemoglobin
compound.
The less the amount of O2 being carried by the Hb molecule, the more
CO2 that can be carried by the Hb.
CO2 produced by the tissue diffuses passively into the bloodstream &
passes into the erythrocytes where it combines with water to form
carbonic acid.
H+ + HCO3-
The hydrogen carbonate ions (HCO 3-) diffuse out of the erythrocyte into the
plasma .
To maintain electrical neutrality, the chloride ions (Cl -) diffuse into the
erythrocyte to balance the hydrogen carbonate ions diffusing out.
Exchange of gases between air in the alveolar space & blood in the
pulmonary capillaries.
ii)
CO2 + H2O
H2CO3
H+ + HCO3-
They are found on the epidermis of leaves & stems of flowering plants.
Lenticels found in the bark of stem & root hairs with thin walls & large surface
area also allow gaseous exchange to take place.
It has a thinner outer wall & a thicker, less elastic, inner wall.
Changes in turgor pressure of guard cells causes the opening or closing of
the stomatal pore.
Stomata open & close because of changes in turgor pressure of their guard
cells.
This is because when water leaves the guard cells, there is no turgor
pressure, causing the leaf to wilt & the guard cells to close.
Sugar is changed to starch by the amylase & the starch does not
affect the water potential.
The sugar reduces the water potential of the guard cells & water moves
in from neighbouring cells by osmosis, the guard cells become turgid &
the stoma open.
The water potential of the guard cells reverses & the stoma closes.
When there is light, especially blue light, it stimulates the proton pump in the
membrane of the guard cells. This causes a fast accumulation of H + in the
cells.
This in turn causes the opening of K+ channel & a fast uptake of K+ ions.
opens.
In some species, Cl- accompanies the K+ in and out of the guard cells, thus