Chapter 23

Respiratory System

23-1
 Respiration

• Ventilation: Movement of air into and out of

lungs
• Gas Exchange
– External respiration: Gas exchange between air
in lungs and blood
– Internal respiration: Gas exchange between the
blood and tissues

23-2
 Respiratory System Functions
• Gas exchange: Oxygen enters blood and carbon
dioxide leaves
• Regulation of blood pH: Altered by changing
blood carbon dioxide levels
• Voice production: Movement of air past vocal
folds makes sound and speech
• Olfaction: Smell occurs when airborne molecules
drawn into nasal cavity
• Protection: Against microorganisms by preventing
entry and removing them
• Temperature regulation: Panting is some animals.
23-3
Respiratory System Divisions

• Upper tract
– Nose, pharynx and
associated structures
• Lower tract
– Larynx, trachea,
bronchi, lungs

23-4
Nasal Cavity and Pharynx

23-5
 Nose and Pharynx

• Nose
– External nose • Pharynx
– Nasal cavity – Common opening for
• Functions digestive and
– Passageway for air respiratory systems
– Cleans the air
– Three regions
» Hairs in nose
• Nasopharynx
» Conchae
– Humidifies, warms air
• Oropharynx
– Smell • Laryngopharynx
– Along with paranasal
sinuses are resonating
chambers for speech
23-6
 Larynx

• Functions
– Maintain an open passageway for air movement
– Epiglottis and vestibular folds prevent swallowed material
from moving into larynx
– Vocal folds are primary source of sound production 23-7
Vocal Folds

23-8
 Trachea

• Windpipe
Insert Fig 23.5 all but b
• Divides to form
– Primary bronchi
– Carina: Cough reflex

23-9
 Tracheobronchial Tree
• Conducting zone
– Trachea to terminal bronchioles which is
ciliated for removal of debris
– Passageway for air movement
– Cartilage holds tube system open and smooth
muscle controls tube diameter
• Respiratory zone
– Respiratory bronchioles to alveoli
– Site for gas exchange
23-10
Tracheobronchial Tree

23-11
Bronchioles and Alveoli

23-12
Alveolus and Respiratory
Membrane

23-13
 Lungs

• Two lungs: Principal organs of respiration

– Right lung: Three lobes
– Left lung: Two lobes
• Divisions
– Lobes, bronchopulmonary segments, lobules 23-14
 Thoracic Walls
Muscles of Respiration

23-15
Thoracic Volume

23-16
 Pleura

• Pleural fluid produced by pleural membranes

– Acts as lubricant
– Helps hold parietal and visceral pleural membranes
together 23-17
 Ventilation

• Movement of air into and out of lungs

• Air moves from area of higher pressure to
area of lower pressure
• Pressure is inversely related to volume

23-18
Alveolar Pressure Changes

23-19
 Changing Alveolar Volume
• Lung recoil
– Causes alveoli to collapse resulting from
• Elastic recoil and surface tension
– Surfactant: Reduces tendency of lungs to collapse

• Pleural pressure
– Negative pressure can cause alveoli to expand
– Pneumothorax is an opening between pleural
cavity and air that causes a loss of pleural
pressure

23-20
Normal Breathing Cycle

23-21
 Compliance

• Measure of the ease with which lungs and

thorax expand
– The greater the compliance, the easier it is for a
change in pressure to cause expansion
– A lower-than-normal compliance means the
lungs and thorax are harder to expand
• Conditions that decrease compliance
– Pulmonary fibrosis
– Pulmonary edema
– Respiratory distress syndrome
23-22
 Pulmonary Volumes
• Tidal volume
– Volume of air inspired or expired during a normal inspiration or
expiration
• Inspiratory reserve volume
– Amount of air inspired forcefully after inspiration of normal tidal
volume
• Expiratory reserve volume
– Amount of air forcefully expired after expiration of normal tidal
volume
• Residual volume
– Volume of air remaining in respiratory passages and lungs after the
most forceful expiration

23-23
 Pulmonary Capacities
• Inspiratory capacity
– Tidal volume plus inspiratory reserve volume

• Functional residual capacity

– Expiratory reserve volume plus the residual volume

• Vital capacity
– Sum of inspiratory reserve volume, tidal volume, and expiratory
reserve volume

• Total lung capacity

– Sum of inspiratory and expiratory reserve volumes plus the tidal
volume and residual volume

23-24
Spirometer and Lung
Volumes/Capacities

23-25
 Minute and Alveolar Ventilation
• Minute ventilation: Total amount of air moved
into and out of respiratory system per minute
• Respiratory rate or frequency: Number of
breaths taken per minute
• Anatomic dead space: Part of respiratory
system where gas exchange does not take place
• Alveolar ventilation: How much air per minute
enters the parts of the respiratory system in
which gas exchange takes place

23-26
 Physical Principles of Gas
Exchange
• Partial pressure
– The pressure exerted by each type of gas in a mixture
– Dalton’s law
– Water vapor pressure
• Diffusion of gases through liquids
– Concentration of a gas in a liquid is determined by its
partial pressure and its solubility coefficient
– Henry’s law

23-27
 Physical Principles of Gas
Exchange
• Diffusion of gases through the respiratory
membrane
– Depends on membrane’s thickness, the diffusion coefficient
of gas, surface areas of membrane, partial pressure of gases
in alveoli and blood
• Relationship between ventilation and
pulmonary capillary flow
– Increased ventilation or increased pulmonary capillary blood
flow increases gas exchange
– Physiologic shunt is deoxygenated blood returning from
lungs

23-28
 Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide
Diffusion Gradients
• Oxygen • Carbon dioxide
– Moves from alveoli into – Moves from tissues
blood. Blood is almost into tissue capillaries
completely saturated
– Moves from
with oxygen when it
leaves the capillary pulmonary capillaries
into the alveoli
– P02 in blood decreases
because of mixing with
deoxygenated blood
– Oxygen moves from
tissue capillaries into the
tissues

23-29
Changes in Partial Pressures

23-30
Hemoglobin and Oxygen Transport
• Oxygen is transported by hemoglobin (98.5%) and
is dissolved in plasma (1.5%)
• Oxygen-hemoglobin dissociation curve shows that
hemoglobin is almost completely saturated when
P02 is 80 mm Hg or above. At lower partial
pressures, the hemoglobin releases oxygen.
• A shift of the curve to the left because of an
increase in pH, a decrease in carbon dioxide, or a
decrease in temperature results in an increase in
the ability of hemoglobin to hold oxygen
23-31
 Hemoglobin and Oxygen
Transport
• A shift of the curve to the right because of a
decrease in pH, an increase in carbon dioxide, or
an increase in temperature results in a decrease in
the ability of hemoglobin to hold oxygen
• The substance 2.3-bisphosphoglycerate increases
the ability of hemoglobin to release oxygen
• Fetal hemoglobin has a higher affinity for oxygen
than does maternal

23-32
 Oxygen-Hemoglobin
Dissociation Curve at Rest

23-33
 Oxygen-Hemoglobin
Dissociation Curve during Exercise

23-34
Shifting the Curve

23-35
 Transport of Carbon Dioxide
• Carbon dioxide is transported as bicarbonate ions
(70%) in combination with blood proteins (23%)
and in solution with plasma (7%)
• Hemoglobin that has released oxygen binds more
readily to carbon dioxide than hemoglobin that has
oxygen bound to it (Haldane effect)
• In tissue capillaries, carbon dioxide combines with
water inside RBCs to form carbonic acid which
dissociates to form bicarbonate ions and hydrogen
ions
23-36
 Transport of Carbon Dioxide
• In lung capillaries, bicarbonate ions and hydrogen
ions move into RBCs and chloride ions move out.
Bicarbonate ions combine with hydrogen ions to
form carbonic acid. The carbonic acid is
converted to carbon dioxide and water. The
carbon dioxide diffuses out of the RBCs.
• Increased plasma carbon dioxide lowers blood pH.
The respiratory system regulates blood pH by
regulating plasma carbon dioxide levels

23-37
Carbon Dioxide Transport
and Chloride Movement

23-38
 Respiratory Areas in Brainstem

• Medullary respiratory center

– Dorsal groups stimulate the diaphragm
– Ventral groups stimulate the intercostal and
abdominal muscles
• Pontine (pneumotaxic) respiratory group
– Involved with switching between inspiration
and expiration

23-39
Respiratory Structures in Brainstem

23-40
 Rhythmic Ventilation
• Starting inspiration
– Medullary respiratory center neurons are continuously active
– Center receives stimulation from receptors and simulation from parts of
brain concerned with voluntary respiratory movements and emotion
– Combined input from all sources causes action potentials to stimulate
respiratory muscles
• Increasing inspiration
– More and more neurons are activated
• Stopping inspiration
– Neurons stimulating also responsible for stopping inspiration and receive
input from pontine group and stretch receptors in lungs. Inhibitory
neurons activated and relaxation of respiratory muscles results in
expiration.

23-41
 Modification of Ventilation
• Chemical control
• Cerebral and limbic – Carbon dioxide is major
system regulator
• Increase or decrease in pH
– Respiration can be can stimulate chemo-
voluntarily controlled sensitive area, causing a
and modified by greater rate and depth of
emotions respiration
– Oxygen levels in blood
affect respiration when a
50% or greater decrease
from normal levels exists

23-42
Modifying Respiration

23-43
Regulation of Blood pH and Gases

23-44
 Herring-Breuer Reflex

• Limits the degree of inspiration and

prevents overinflation of the lungs
– Infants
• Reflex plays a role in regulating basic rhythm of
breathing and preventing overinflation of lungs
– Adults
• Reflex important only when tidal volume large as in
exercise

23-45
 Ventilation in Exercise
• Ventilation increases abruptly
– At onset of exercise
– Movement of limbs has strong influence
– Learned component
• Ventilation increases gradually
– After immediate increase, gradual increase occurs
(4-6 minutes)
– Anaerobic threshold is highest level of exercise
without causing significant change in blood pH
• If exceeded, lactic acid produced by skeletal muscles

23-46
 Effects of Aging

• Vital capacity and maximum minute

ventilation decrease
• Residual volume and dead space increase
• Ability to remove mucus from respiratory
passageways decreases
• Gas exchange across respiratory membrane
is reduced

23-47