What is Respiration?

Respiration is the physiological process by which organisms supply oxygen to

their cells and the cells use that oxygen to produce high energy molecules.
Respiration occurs in all types of organisms, including bacteria, protists,
fungi, plants, and animals. In higher animals, respiration is often separated
into three separate components: (a) external respiration, the exchange of
oxygen and carbon dioxide between the environment and the organism; (b)
internal respiration, the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between the
internal body fluids, such as blood, and individual cells; and (c) cellular
respiration, the biochemical oxidation of glucose and consequent synthesis
of ATP (adenosine triphosphate).

What is the difference between Internal and External Respiration?

External respiration is a mechanical process, but internal respiration is a
chemical process.
External respiration is mainly the bulk exchange of gases in and out of the
body, while internal respiration is the process of breaking down of nutrients
with oxygen to produce energy.
External respiration occurs between body and external environment
whereas internal respiration takes place in cellular level.
External respiration involves both active and passive processes, but
internal respiration is only an active process.
External respiration is both voluntary and involuntary, while internal
respiration is always an involuntary process.
Internal respiration produces energy and waste products, but nothing
except gas exchange and voice producing in external respiration takes place.

Internal Respiration in Detail

Distal Respiratory Tree

The processes of internal respiration take place in the distal respiratory tree.
Internal respiration is based on "gasesous exchange" "down a gradient".
That is, gases that are at a high concentration are reduced to a low
concentration, and vice-versa.

Concentration of Oxygen in the Blood/Airways

When the concentration of oxygen in the airways of the lungs (including the
alveolar sacs) is high relative to the concentration of oxygen in the blood
(passing through the capillaries that cover the alveoli), the concentration of
oxygen in the lungs decreases while the concentration of oxygen in the blood
increases.
This is sometimes described as oxygen "travelling down the concentration
gradient", from the (high) concentration in the lungs, to the (low)
concentration in the blood.

Concentration of Carbon Dioxide in the Blood/Airways

While the oxygen travels from the lungs into the blood ...
When the concentration of carbon dioxide in the blood (passing through the
capillaries that cover the alveoli) is high relative to the concentration of
carbon dioxide in the airways of the lungs (including the alveolar sacs), then
concentration of carbon dioxide in the blood decreases while the
concentration of carbon dioxide in the lungs increases.
This is sometimes described as carbon dioxide "travelling down the
concentration gradient", from the (high) concentration in the blood to the
(low) concentration in the lungs.

Movement of Gas Particles through the Alveolar-Capillary Membrane

This is a simple representation of blood flowing through a capillary next to

the alveolar-capillary membrane of an alveolus.
The blood corpuscles that carry carbon dioxide and/or oxygen in the blood
deliver carbon dioxide to the alveolus because the concentration of carbon
dioxide is higher in the incoming blood than in the alveolus filled with freshly
inhaled air.
As the carbon dixoide leaves the blood corpuscles they are "re-filled" with
oxygen supplied by the oxygen in the alveolus because the concentration of
oxygen is higher in the freshly inhaled air in the alveolus than in the
incoming blood.
The exchange of gases between the alveoli and the blood occurs by diffusion
of the gases through the tissues and is driven by the tendency for
equalisation of pressures of the gases on each side of the alveolar-capillary
membrane, as well as the tendency for fluids to diffuse from high- to lowerconcentrations (when free to do so). The extremely large * total surface area
of alveoli in the lungs makes this process extremely efficient, and therefore
also very fast.

* The average total surface area of the alveolar-capillary membrane is approx. 50-100m2, which is
similar to the size of two tennis courts.

Summary of Oxygen Flow between Tissue-Types in the Lungs-BloodBody Tissues:

High Concentration of Oxygen (O2) in the Lungs
and
Low Concentration of Oxygen (O2) in the Blood,
85% of the O2 is carried by erythrocytes

High Concentration of Oxygen (O2) in the blood

(due to exchange of gases across the alveolar-capillary membrane).

Oxygen (O2) concentration in the blood is high compared

with the concentration of oxygen in tissues throughout the body
(tissues through which blood flows via capillaries
located through tissues all over the body).

Oxygen (O2) is released from the erythrocytes in the blood

into the tissues of the body.

Concentration of oxygen (O2) in the blood is reduced.

So that by the time that blood returns to the lungs
the concentration of oxygen (O2) in the blood is lower
than the concentration of oxygen (O2) in the lungs [Return to top of Flow
Chart]

Sources:
http://ivy-rose.co.uk
http://science.jrank.org
http://differencebetween.com

--Internal respiration is the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between

blood and cells in different tissues of an animal's body. Internal respiration
occurs in animals with a circulation system. Animals with gills or lungs take
up oxygen and transport oxygen-rich blood throughout the body; they
transport carbon dioxide-rich blood from the body back into the respiratory
organs where it is expelled. The oxygen-rich blood and carbon dioxide-rich
blood do not mix, making for an efficient internal respiration system.
Mammals and birds have a double circulation system for blood, in which
separate pumps in the left and right chambers of the heart move the
oxygen-rich blood in the arteries and carbon dioxide-rich blood in the veins.
The blood of vertebrates and some invertebrates contains a protein (such as
hemoglobin, hemocyanin, or chlorocruorin), which binds oxygen and
transports it from the respiratory organs throughout the body. These oxygenbinding proteins greatly improve the oxygen carrying ability of blood. For
example, human hemoglobin contains about 98% of the oxygen in a human's
blood.
Hemoglobin is a red protein which binds oxygen and occurs in the red blood
cells of vertebrates. Each molecule of hemoglobin contains an iron atom and
can bind up to four molecules of oxygen. In muscles, hemoglobin passes its
oxygen to myoglobin. Myoglobin is an oxygen-binding protein that makes
muscles red and transports oxygen to the cells of the muscle. In turn, muscle
cells use the oxygen from myoglobin to power muscle movement by cellular
respiration.
Some segmented worms (annelids) have a green blood protein, called
chlorocruorin, which binds iron and serves as an oxygen carrier. Some
invertebrates have a blue blood protein, called hemocyanin, which binds
copper and serves as an oxygen carrier.
--Internal Respiration
Internal respiration is the process of breaking down food in the presence of
oxygen at acellular level to produce energy. Internal respiration is an active
process, as it requires energy. It uses oxygen to produce energy and
produces carbon dioxide and water as waste products.
Internal respiration is a metabolic process that takes place in cells, where
glucose from food reacts with breathing oxygen to produce biochemical
energy in the form of Adenosine triphosphate, abbreviated as ATP. This
energy is extremely useful to perform all the biological processes except

thinking or dreaming. In addition to glucose, amino acids and fatty acids are
also commonly used nutrients for respiration with cellular oxygen.
Water, ammonia, and carbon dioxide are waste products of internal
respiration. Mostly water and carbon dioxide move out of the body via
breathing, while ammonia excretes with urine. Respiration is an involuntary
process, which the animal cannot control. However, internal respiration could
be either aerobic or anaerobic. Aerobic respiration involves oxygen in the
process, whereas there is no oxygen involved in anaerobic process.

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