WHY DO WE BREATHE

FUNCTIONS OF RESPIRATORY SYSTEM

1. Respiration
a. Ventilation – movement of air in and out of lungs
b. External respiration – has exchange between lungs and blood
c. Transport of respiratory gases – around the body in blood
d. Internal respiration – gas exchange between blood and tissue
2. Regulation of blood pH
3. Voice production
4. Smell (olfaction)
5. Protection – dust, debris – removes from respiratory system – mucus, hair,

DIVISIONS
 Structural classification
o Upper respiratory tracts
o Lower rt
 Functional classification
o Conducting zone
o Respiratory zone (in lungs)

CONDUCTING ZONE
Nose
 External nose and nasal cavity
 Nasal cavity
o From nostrils (nares) to choana
o Vestibule – entrance to nasal cavity
 Stratified squamous epithelium, sweat glands, sebaceous glands, hair
follicles
o Hard palate – floor of nasal cavity
 Bone
o Septum – separates nasal cavity into left and right parts
 Cartilage and bone
o Concha – bony ridges in nasal cavity
 Superior, middle, inferior concha
 S,m,I meatus
 Increase surface area in nasal cavity
 Epithelium – pseudostratified ciliated columnar epithelium
 Functions of nasal cavity
o Passageway for air
o Cleans the air
o Humidifies and warms the air
 Via warm blood flowing through nasal cavity
 Via moisture from mucous epithelium and excess tears which drain
into nasal cavity
o Olfaction (smell)
o Sound of your voice
Pharynx (throat)
 3 regions
o Nasopharynx
 Posterior to nasal cavity
 Pseudostratified ciliated columnar epithelium
 Houses openings of Eustachian tubes
 Posterior surface of nasopharynx has the pharyngeal tonsils
o Oropharynx
 Posterior to oral cavity
 Stratified squamous epithelium – protective (friction from food)
 Palatine tonsils and lingual tonsils
o Laryngopharynx
 Lies posterior to epiglottis
 Stratified squamous epithelium

Larynx (voice box)

 Base of tongue to trachea
 Passageway for air
 Made up of 9 cartilage
o 6 paired
 Arytenoid
 Corniculate
 Cuneiform
o 3 unpaired
 Thyroid
 Cricoid
 Epiglottis
 Functions
o Maintains an open passageway for air movement
o Directs food into the oesophagus away from respiratory tract
o Sound production via vocal folds
o Trap debris from entering lungs

Trachea (windpipe)
 Descends from larynx and sits anterior to oesophagus
 Has 15-20 C shaped hyaline cartilage rings  support
 Dense connective tissue and smooth muscle in between cartilage rings
 Tracheal lumen lined with pseudostratified ciliated columnar epithelium with goblet
cells (mucous producing)

Tracheobronchial tree
 Carina – splits into 2, coughing fit if particle touches
 Splits into 2 main (primary) bronchus
 Splits into Lobar (secondary) bronchus
 Splits into Segmental (tertiary) bronchus – 10 segments
 Divides into bronchioles
  Terminal bronchioles – no cartilage but smooth muscle

RESPIRATORY ZONE
 Alveoli – come off from respiratory bronchioles from terminal bronchioles
o Covered in blood capillaries – bring and take away blood
 Gas exchange

Respiratory membrane
 Alveolus side
o Simple squamous epithelium
 Type 1 pneumocyte
 Gas exchange  simple diffusion
 Type 2 pneumocytes
 Cuboidal cell
 Secretes a surfactant to reduce surface tension
 Macrophages – destroy harmful microorganism
 Base membrane
 Capillary side
o Basement membrane
o Capillary endothelium
  Simple squamous epithelium
o Red blood cells

Lungs
 Cone shaped with a base and apex
 Left lung has 2 lobes and cardiac notch (where heart sits)
 Right lung separated by 3 lobes
 Lobes separated by fissures
 Hilum on medial surface – every point for blood and nervous supply, lymphatic
vessels and bronchi
 Bronchopulmonary segments (10) in each lung

Pleura
 Outer parietal layer connects to thoracic cavity
 Visceral layer connects to lungs

GAS EXHANGE
 Across respiratory membrane

Factors affecting gas exchange

1. Thickness of respiratory membrane
a. Thicker membrane reduces rate of movement of gas – from fluid e.g. illness
2. Surface area
a. Lower SA reduces volume of gas exchange taking place – from illness
3. Diffusion coefficient
a. Diffusion coefficient – how easily a gas can diffuse in and out of a liquid or
tissue – higher the number = faster the gas exchange
b. A relative number
4. Partial pressure- pressure exerted by each gas in a mixture of gases
a. when the pp of a gas is greater on one side of the respiratory membrane
compared to the other side, the gas moves from the side with the higher Pp
to the side with lower Pp

GAS TRANSPORT

Oxygen
 transported via
o red blood cells (haemoglobin) – 98.5%
o Dissolved in blood plasma – 1.5%

CO2
 Transported as
 HCO3- dissolved in plasma – 70%
 CO2 dissolved in plasma – 7%
 Bound to haemoglobin – 23%

Transport from atmosphere  lungs  respiratory membrane  blood  tissue

  Theory: gas moves from high partial pressure to low partial pressure
 Low oxygen in tissue (being consumed) and high oxygen in blood, therefore oxygen
diffuses into tissue
 High CO2 in tissue (waste produced) and low in blood, therefore moves into blood
and expired out

VENTILATION

Pulmonary ventilation – process of moving air into and out of lungs

Structures
 Lungs
 Diaphragm
 Rib cage
 Sternum
 Intercostal muscles – in between the ribs

Movement when breathing

Boyle’s law – volume is inversely proportional to pressure

 Relation to ventilation
o Inspire – volume increase, pressure decrease
o Expire – volume decrease, pressure increase
 Air moves from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure

Airflow in and out of alveoli

 Barometric air pressure – atmospheric air pressure outside the body
 Intra-alveolar pressure – pressure inside the alveoli
o PB is nomrlaly 760mm mercury so will be equal to 0 mm Hg
o If Palv is 759mm Hg = -1 mm Hg
o Palv = 761mm Hg = 1 mm Hg
End of Expiration
 PB = Palv
 No flow of air

During inspiration
 PB > Palv
 Airflow from outside of the body into the lung

End of Inspiration
 PB = Palv
 No flow of air

During expiration
 Palv > PB
 Air flows from outside of the lungs to the outside of the body

Changing alveolar volume

 Intrapleural pressure = pressure in the pleural cavity
 Forces which promote alveoli recoil
o Alveoli are covered in fine elastic fibres
o Fluid which coats alveoli
 Surfactant – reduce high surface tension
 Forces which promote lungs expansion
o Intrapleural pressure > intra-alveolar pressure
 Visceral pleural adhering to parietal pleura = intrapleural pressure
RESPIRATORY VOLUME AND CAPACITY

Pulmonary volumes – volume of air involved in different stages of breathing

 Tidal volume – amount of ait inspired/ expired with each breath
o At rest, amount inspired = amount expired
 Inspiratory reserve volume – the amount of air that can be inspired forcefully after
inspiration of the tidal volume
 Expiratory reserve volume – the amount of air that can be forcefully expired after
expiration of the tidal volume
 Residual volume – the volume of air still remaining in the respiratory passages and
lungs after forceful expiration

Pulmonary capacities
 The sum of two or more pulmonary volumes
 Inspiratory capacity – amount of air a person can inspire maximally after normal
expiration (tidal volume + inspiratory reserve volume)
 Functional residual capacity – the amount of air remaining in the lungs at the end of
a normal expiration (expiratory reserve volume + residual volume)
 Vital capacity – the maximum volume of air that can be expelled from the
respiratory tract after a maximum inspiration (inspiratory reserve volume + tidal
volume + expiratory reserve volume)
 Total lung capacity – inspiratory reserve volume + expiratory reserve volume + tidal
volume + residual volume

DEFINITIONS
 Respiratory rate – number of breaths per minute
 Minute ventilation – total amount of air moved into and out of the respiratory
system each minute (tidal volume x respiratory rate)
 Anatomic dead space – space formed by nasal cavity, pharynx, larynx, trachea,
bronchi, bronchioles and terminal bronchioles
o Regions in the respiratory system where gas exchange is not taking place
 Alveolar ventilation – volume of air available for gas exchange per minute

MEASURING LUNG FUNCTION

Why
 To diagnose and monitor disease e.g. asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary
diseases – comparing to normal patien
How
 Static vs dynamic – time is a factor vs not a factor
 Using a spirometer

What are you measuring

 Lung volumes and capacity

Dynamic lung function test

 Lung volume measurement in relation to time
 Vitalograph
Parameters measured
 Forced vital capacity (FVC) – maximal volume of air that can be forcefully expired as
fast as possible after a deep breath in
 Forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1SEC) – volume of air expired in the first
second of the test
 Forced expiratory volume 1% (FEV1%) – FEV1SEC expressed as a percentage of the
FVC

 Tells us that in the first second of expiration you are releasing 72.3% of the air in
your lungs

Obstructive Lung Diseases – vitalograph

 Airways are obstructed therefore person can get out all the air in their lungs, but it’ll
take longer
Restrictive lung disease – vitalograph
 Volume is lower but the rate is the same

Exercise and ventilation

 Ventilation increases abruptly
o Onset of exercises
o Movement of limbs has a strong influence
 Ventilation increases gradually
 Exercise adaptations
o Slight increase in vital capacity
o Slight decrease in residual volume
o At maximal exercise, tidal volume and minute ventilation increases