RESPIRATORY SYTEM

Mammals breathe through an organ called Lungs. Air enters the lungs in a system of passageways that arborize, branching like a trunk, branches and twigs of a decidous tree. At the end of the smallest passageways alveoli lined by a respiratory epithelium are the sites of gaseous exchange. Oxygen depleted and carbon dioxide-enriched air, along with metabolic water is exhaled via the same path by which the air entered. [Video]

Usually exhibit several lobes, asymmetrically, with one more on the right.

 However the lungs of a number of aquatic and terrestrial mammals are not lobed.
Ex. Sirenians (sea cow/ dugong)

 And some are lobed on the right side only

Ex. Monotremes

-are mammals that lay eggs. Among the living mammals they include the platypus and four species of echidnas (or spiny anteaters)

 And some are lobed on the right side only

Ex. Monotremes

-are mammals that lay eggs. Among the living mammals they include the platypus and four species of echidnas (or spiny anteaters)
Platypus

 And some are lobed on the right side only

Ex. Monotremes

spiny anteaters

-are mammals that lay eggs. Among the living mammals they include the platypus and four species of echidnas (or spiny anteaters)

 Left and right lung occupy separate pleural cavities separated completely in the midline by the mediastinum, a septum consisting of loose (areolar) connective tissue that serves as packing for all the organs of the thorax except the lungs, and including principally the esophagus, the heart within the pericardial sac, thymus, major descending and ascending vessels, nerves and lymphatics, and the lower end of the trachea.

 Mediastinum
Anterior Middle Posterior

 The trachea divides into two primary bronchi, each of which penetrates a lung at the hilus and divides into one secondary bronchus for each lobe, when lobe is present. These gives rise to tertiary bronchi that branch and rebranch into smaller and smaller passageway, the last of which opens into several to a dozen thin walled alveolar ducts.

*highlight the primary b.

 The walls of the bronchi and larger bronchioles contain:

Smooth muscle fibers Connective tissue Irregular cartilaginous plates

and lined with a ciliated pseudostratified columnar epithelium cells

 As the branches becomes smaller, the cilia are lost, the epithelium becomes flatter, the cartilage disappears, and then, in some mammals atleast, the smooth muscle cells disappear.

 The walls of the ducts are evaginated to form clusters of alveoli, or respiratory pockets, estimated to number over 300 million each human lung. It is these alveoli that gaseous exchange takes place. Alveoli are lined by a simple squamous epithelium (pavement cells) beneath which is a rich plexus of capillaries held together by a close network of reticular connective tissue fibers.

Alveolar sacs consist of two or more alveoli that share a common opening.

 Red blood cells in the capillaries take an oxygen to form oxyhemoglobin, and carbon dioxide and some metabolic water pass from the blood plasma into the alveoli to be exhaled

 The parietal peritoneum of each pleural cavity lines the chest wall as the parietal pleura and covers the cephalic surface of the diaphragm as the diaphragmatic pleura.

 At the root of each lung, where the primary bronchus and pulmonary vessels enter and leave, the parietal pleura is continuous with the visceral pleura that lies on the surface of the lung.

 The space between the parietal and visceral pleurae is the actual pleural cavity. It surrounds the lung except at the hilus. A subatmospheric pressure exists in the pleural cavity , and the higher normal atmospheric pressure exerted via the passageway from nares to alveoli keeps highly elastic wall of the lung in intimate contact with the thoracic wall at all times, with only a thin layer of serous lubricant intervening.

 The lubricant is a product of the pleural mesothelium. The fluid minimizes friction between lungs and chest walls as the latter rises and falls with each inhalation and exhalation. Inflammation of the pleura causes an increase of fluid in the cavity, a condition known as pleurisy. Perforation of the thoracic wall and the parietal pleura from a gunshot for example allows atmospheric air to enter the

 The pleural cavity, resulting in deflation of the lung on that side , a condition known as pneumothorax.

Lets listen to an explanation

 accomplished primarily by a dome-shaped muscular diaphragm (unique in mammals) that functions as a suction pump. Anchored to the
xiphoid process of the sternum ventrally to a half dozen or so of the caudalmost ribs and their costal cartilages laterally And to several of the more anterior lumbar vertebrae dorsally

The dome bulges cephalad into the thoracic cavity when not under tension. Contraction of the diaphragmatic muscles flattens the diaphragm, this further decreases the already subatmospheric pressure within the pleural cavity.

 Consequently, normal atmospheric pressure, continually exerted via the nares and respiratory tract, pushes more air into the lungs to fill the vacuum.

The diaphragm acts as a suction pump because it creates a vacuum that causes air to be sucked into the duct system.

 Is largely a passive phenomenon attributable to the following:

1. Relaxation of the diaphragm, which returns it to the domed position, decreasing the volume of the thorax and restoring (increasing) the pressure around the lungs to the resting subatmospheric level 2. the upward pressure exerted on the relaxing diaphragm by the resuent abdominal viscera which are under compression while the diaphragm is flattened

 3. resilience of the abdominal wall, which bulges when the abdominal viscera are compressed 4. return of the ribs to a resting position as the intercostal and supracostal muscles relax 5. elasticity of the lungs, which enables them to conform to these changes.

 As a result, air is squeezed out of the lungs. During forceful expiration, a in panting, roaring, coughing, or when a trained singer is performing, the abdominal wall participates actively in the expulsion of air.

 Marine mammals that seek their food in the depths of the oceans have exceptionally muscular diaphragms. The water spout of a whale for instancethe sign that exhalation is taking place last 3-5 minutes.

 Also deep-sea foraging marine mammals do not store oxygen in their lungs in anticipation of a dive. While animal is breathing at the surface, oxygen entering the lungs is transferred immidiately to rete mirabilia of the blood stream. The animal then exhales before comencing a dive and breathing may not take place again for as long as 2 hours. The lungs collpase totally shortly after the dive gets underway.

END

Some comparison
Lungs are like the gill of fishes, which extracts oxygen. They have the same end product and function, its just that the gill works on water and the lungs does not. Lungs differ from those of birds in that the incoming air enters a system of passageways that arborize, branching like a tree

 Mammalian lungs usually exhibit several lobes, asymmetrically, with one more on the right. The

 why we couldn't breathe liquid unaided, as in the film The Abyss; our lungs lack the power needed to pump a dense fluid in and out quickly enough by themselves.) If you live in the sea, it makes sense to have gills, right? Wrong. No. 1 on a recent list of evolutionary mistakes was the fact that whales have blowholes, not gills.

How about mammals under water

Adaptations of the Respiratory SystemThe BlowholeUnlike other mammals who breathe through their nostrils and mouth, dolphins breathe through the blowhole, which is situated on the top on its head. A reason for this difference is that the blowhole will facilitate the breathing at the surface of the water. Since the blowhole is at the top of the head, only a small region of the head is required to break the surface of the water to inhale air. The dolphin starts to exhale before reaching the surface and this helps to reduce the amount of time spent breathing at the surface. Dolphins can catch a breath about five times in a minute before diving again, without hindering the progress of their swim. Usually, a dolphin breathes two to four times each minute when it is swimming near the surface. It can hold its breath for seven minutes or more when it is diving. The LungsThe lungs of dolphins are not significantly larger or smaller than the land mammals. Obviously, the size of the lungs does not determine the amount of oxygen that can be stored and utilized. However, the dolphin lungs contain a lot more alveoli (air cells) than human lungs do. Dolphin lungs are made up of two layers of capillaries, and this arrangement increases the efficiency of gas exchange since most mammals have only one layer of capillary. Therefore, this means that the surface area of the lungs have been greatly increased and gas exchange can occur more quickly. The pleurae of dolphins are thick and elastic. The pulmonary tissue proper contains a generous supply of myoelastic fibers for better elasticity. The bronchial tubes are lined with muscular tissue. Tiny bronchioles are found together with sphincters that cut off the alveoli from the rest of the lung. These anatomical mechanisms attribute to a more efficient exchange of gas. In dolphins, residual air - the fixed volume of air that always remain inside the lungs - never exceeds 15 percent of total capacity, and their vital capacity - the volume of air that is exchanged frequently - is over 85 percent. In some cases, the vital capacity can even reach 92 percent. Normally in human, only 10 to 20 percent of the air in the lungs are exchanged. But in dolphins, about 80 to 90 percent is renewed, so that their body can get as much oxygen as possible. The respiratory system of whales certainly has some unusual features, but they are adaptations to prevent water entering the airways: the nasal passages are complex and convoluted, and the larynx (the upper end of the respiratory tube) extends up into the nasal cavity rather than opening into the throat. Powerful muscles form a special plug within the blowhole, preventing water from entering the lungs when the dolphin is underwater.