Chapter Outline: Use this as your textbook reading companion

35.1

Impacts, Issues: Up in Smoke

A. The body reacts to tobacco smoke.
1. Immediately there is coughing, nausea, dizziness, and even headaches.
2. Later, the cilia that line the respiratory tract are immobilized; white blood cells are killed; colds and
bronchitis increase; and, of course, deadly cancer is a long-term reward.
B. The active ingredient in this scenario is nicotine.
1. It constricts the blood vessels, increasing blood pressure.
2. It raises the level of bad LDL cholesterol and creates a decline in good HDL cholesterol.
3. Females who start smoking as teenagers are about 70 percent more likely to develop breast cancer.
C. Secondhand smoke also raises the risk of disease (lung cancer, asthma, respiratory problems) for nonsmokers.

35.2 The Process of Respiration

A. Gas Exchanges
1. Respiratory systems rely on the diffusion of gases down pressure gradients.
a. Gases will diffuse down a pressure gradient across a membrane (respiratory surface) if it is permeable
and moist.
2. The amount of diffusion depends on the surface area of the membrane and the differences in partial
pressure.
B. Factors Influencing Gas Exchange
1. Animals either must have a body design that keeps internal cells close to the surface or must have a
system to move the gases inward.
2. Concentrations of gases on either side of a membrane are important; the larger the gradient, the faster the
rate of diffusion.
a. Most animals have to keep moving gasses across their respiratory membranes in order to maintain
steep gradients.
3. Respiratory Proteins
a. The main transport protein is hemoglobin, each molecule of which binds four molecules of oxygen in
the lungs (high concentration) and releases them in the tissues where oxygen is low.
b. Myoglobin is another iron-containing respiratory protein, which is a good storage molecule of oxygen
because it has a higher affinity for oxygen.
35.3 Invertebrate Respiration
A. Integumentary exchange, in which gases diffuse directly across a moist body surface (for example,
earthworm), is adequate for small animals with a low metabolic rate.
B. Gills, highly folded, thin-walled projections from the body, enhance exchange rates between the blood of
aquatic invertebrates and their watery environment.
C. Tracheal respiration in arthropods, such as insects and spiders, utilizes fine air-conducting tubules to provide
gaseous exchange at the cellular level; very little participation by the circulatory system is needed.
35.4 Vertebrate Respiration
A. Respiration in Fishes
1. A gill has a moist, thin, vascularized epidermis.
2. External gills project from the body surface of a few amphibians and some insects.
3. The internal gills of adult fishes are positioned where water can enter the mouth and then flow over them
as it exits just behind the head.
a. Water flows over the gills and blood circulates through them in opposite directions.
b. This mechanism, called countercurrent flow, is highly efficient in extracting oxygen from water, whose
oxygen content is lower than air.
Respiration

B. Evolution of Paired Lungs

1. Lungs contain internal respiratory surfaces shaped as a cavity or sac.
2. Lungs also participate in the production of sound, when air is exhaled past the vocal cords through the
glottis opening.
3. Lungs provide a membrane for gaseous exchange with blood.
a. Air moves by bulk flow into and out of the lungs.
b. Gases diffuse across the inner respiratory surfaces of the lungs.
c. Pulmonary circulation enhances the diffusion of dissolved gases into and out of lung capillaries.
d. In body tissues, oxygen diffuses from blood interstitial fluid cells; carbon dioxide travels the
route in reverse.
4. Various animals use different mechanisms for respiration.
a. Frogs in the larvae stage utilize gills and skin; as adults they use paired lungs and skin for respiration.
b. Amniotes have waterproof skin and no gills; they use well developed lungs for respiration.
35.5 Human Respiratory System
A. The Systems Many Functions
1. The lungs accomplish gas exchange via the alveoli.
2. Exhaled air permits vocalizations.
3. The system helps return venous blood to the heart and helps rid the body of excess heat and water.
4. Controls over breathing adjust the bodys acidbase balance as well as the bodys temperature.
B. From Airways to Alveoli
1. The Respiratory Passageways
a. Air enters or leaves the respiratory system through nasal cavities where hair and cilia filter dust and
particles from, blood vessels warm, and mucus moistens the air.
b. Air moves via this route: pharynx larynx (route blocked by epiglottis during swallowing) vocal
cords (space between is glottis) trachea bronchi bronchioles alveoli.
c. The vocal cords lie at the entrance to the larynx.
d. When air is exhaled through the glottis, the folds of the cords vibrate to produce sounds, which are
under regulation by nerve commands to the elastic ligaments that regulate the glottal opening.
2. The Paired Lungs
a. Human lungs are located in the thoracic cavity, one on each side of the heart; the rib cage encloses
and protects the lungs.
b. Each lung is covered with a pleural membrane, which covers the lungs outer surface and lines the
inside of the thoracic cavity.
c. Inside the lungs, respiratory bronchioles bear outpouchings of their walls called alveoli, which are
usually clustered as alveolar sacs.
d. Alveoli provide a tremendous surface area for gaseous exchange with the blood located in the dense
capillary network surrounding each alveolar sac.
3. Muscles and Respiration
a. The diaphragm is a sheet of smooth muscle beneath the lungs; intercostal muscles are skeletal
muscles between the ribs.
b. The diaphragm and the intercostal muscles interact and exchange the volume of the thoracic cavity
during breathing.
35.6 How You Breathe
A. The Respiratory Cycle
1. The respiratory cycle includes on inhalation and one exhalation.
2. In inhalation, the diaphragm contracts and flattens, muscles lift the rib cage upward and outward, the
chest cavity volume increases, internal pressure decreases, and air rushes in.
2. In exhalation, the actions listed above are reversed; the elastic lung tissue recoils passively.
Respiration

3.
4.

Pressure gradients between air inside and outside the respiratory tract change, causing air to flow into the
airways.
Using the Heimlich maneuver manually increases the intra-abdominal pressure to force the diaphragm
up and force food out of the trachea.

B. Respiratory Volumes
1. The maximum volume the lungs can hold is the total lung volume; total lung volume is 5.7 liters in men
and 4.2 liters in females.
2. Vital capacity is the maximum amount of air that can be moved in and out of the lungs in one breath.
3. The tidal volume, about 0.5 liters, is the volume of air that moves into and out of the lungs in one
respiratory cycle.
4. The lungs never totally deflate during breathing.
C. Control of Breathing
1. Respiratory centers in the brain control the rate and depth of breathing.
2. When activity levels increase, chemoreceptors sense changes in the blood pH and signal the respiratory
center to alter breathing levels.
3. Reflexes, such as swallowing or coughing, and commands from the sympathetic nerves alter breathing
patterns.
35.7 Gas Exchange and Transport
A. The Respiratory Membrane
1. The alveolar epithelium, the capillary epithelium, and their basement membranes form a respiratory
membrane.
2. Oxygen and carbon dioxide passively diffuse across the membrane in response to partial pressure
gradients.
a. Partial pressures are the amount of pressure an individual gas contributes to an overall mix of gasses;
i.e. atmosphere contains nitrogen gas, oxygen, carbon dioxide, etc.
B. Oxygen Transport and Storage
1. Blood cannot carry sufficient oxygen and carbon dioxide in dissolved form to satisfy the bodys demands;
hemoglobin helps enhance its capacity.
2. Oxygen diffuses down a pressure gradient into the blood plasma red blood cells binds to
hemoglobin (four molecules per hemoglobin to form oxyhemoglobin).
3. Hemoglobin gives up its oxygen in tissues where partial pressure of oxygen is low, blood is warmer,
partial pressure of carbon dioxide is higher, and pH is lower; all four conditions occur in tissues with high
metabolism.
4. Myoglobin stores oxygen in cardiac muscle and in some skeletal muscles; when blood flow cannot keep
up with the bodys needs, myoglobin releases oxygen.
C. Carbon Dioxide Transport
1. Because carbon dioxide is higher in the body tissues, it diffuses into the blood.
2. Ten percent is dissolved in plasma, 30 percent binds with hemoglobin to form carbaminohemoglobin, and
60 percent is in bicarbonate form.
3. Bicarbonate and carbonic acid formation is enhanced by the enzyme carbonic anhydrase, which is located
in the red blood cells.
D. The Carbon Monoxide Threat
1. Hemoglobin has a higher affinity for carbon monoxide than oxygen.
2. Carbon monoxide prevents proper oxygen transport causing carbon monoxide poisoning.
E. Effects of Altitude
1. Even though the concentration of oxygen is the same at higher altitudes, the pressure is less.
a. Less oxygen crosses the respiratory membrane.
b. Less oxygen binds to hemoglobin.
Respiration

c. Altitude sickness can result; symptoms include shortness of breath, dizziness, and nausea.
2. Over time, acclimatization leads to the production of more red blood cells to accommodate the change.
35.8 Common Respiratory Diseases and Disorders
A. Interrupted Breathing
1. Sleep apnea and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) are caused by a stop in breathing.
2. Damage to the respiratory control center and weak signals (fewer serotonin receptors) may lead to these
respiratory stresses.
B. Tuberculosis
1. About one-third of the human population carries the bacteria that cause tuberculosis; 10 percent of these
carriers will develop the disease, which can be cured with long treatment courses of antibiotics.
2. Other viruses and bacteria can infect the lungs. Pneumonia is a general term for inflammation caused by
an infectious organism.
C. Bronchitis, Asthma, and Emphysema
1. Chronic irritation of the lining of the bronchioles leads to bronchitis, in which there is an excess of mucus
that may promote bacterial growth.
2. In asthma, and inhaled allergen or irritant triggers inflammation and constriction of airways.
3. In emphysema, the walls of the alveoli become fibrous and inefficient in exchanging of gases.
D. Smokings Impact
1. Tobacco use kills millions and in the U.S. drains over $22 billion a year from the economy.
2. Secondhand smoke is a real danger to innocents who do not participate in the life-threatening habit
themselves.
3. Smoking marijuana may also lead to chronic throat problems, bronchitis, and emphysema.

Respiration