Breathing and gaseous exchange in human

*Breathing is a mechanical process where oxygen is inhaled by lungs and

carbondioxide is exhaled.
Breathing involves inspiration and expiration

* Gaseous exchange is the exchange of oxygen and carbondioxide across

respiratory surfaces

In inspiration the following occurs: Expiration events:

* Intercostal muscles contract
* Diaphragm pulls down
* Ribs moves out and up
* Volume of lungs increases
* Pressure in lungs decreases
* oxygen rushes into lungs
intercostal muscles relax
diaphragm pulls up
ribs comes back to normal position
volume of lungs decreases
pressure increases
carbondioxide is squeezed out of lungs

* Gaseous exchange is the exchange of oxygen and carbondioxide across

respiratory surfaces.
Organisms Respiratory surfaces
Human lungs (alveoli)
Fish gills (lamellae)
Earthworm skin (thin membrane)
Amoeba cell membrane (thin membrane)
Insects tracheae (spiracles)

Human cells need oxygen so that energy can be released from the mitochondria
during the process of cellular respiration (oxygen + glucose) = energy)
*Cells get oxygen from the blood that is circulated by the heart.
*Cells used oxygen during cellular respiration and give off carbon dioxide as a
waste product via the blood.
* Therefore, the respiratory system severs as a medium/pathway of obtaining
oxygen and give off carbon dioxide
*If cells do not get oxygen they will die.
*If carbon dioxide is not removed quickly, carbon dioxide will combine with water
in blood and form carbonic acid.
*Carbonic acid lowers blood pH and disturbs cell activities.
The respiratory system consist of:
A pair of lungs
Intercostal muscles
Diaphragm
Ribs cage
*Air way (nose/mouth, pharynx, larynx, trachea, bronchi(two), alveoli)
Diagram showing structures of the respiratory system.
Flow chart showing flow of oxygen along the respiratory tract.

Air in atmosphere (high concentration of oxygen)

Nose or mouth

pharynx

larynx

trachea

bronchi

bronchioles

alveoli (site of gaseous exchange)

*Air in atmosphere high in oxygen
* Oxygen enters nose/mouth (by diffusion)- nose and along the respiratory tract
has columnar epithelial cells with cilia that sweeps mucus and trap dust and other
particles to the back of throat)

Air containing oxygen travels to the pharynx then to the larynx

Oxygen then travels to trachea/wind pipe then to bronchi
Oxygen then move along the respiratory tract to the bronchioles
It then moves to the alveoli (site of gaseous exchange)
Cross section through the alveoli

* Alveoli is associated with:

* The exchange of oxygen and carbondioxide

* capillaries
*cells in walls of alvroli
 Oxygen in alveoli firstly diffuses into fluid secreted by cells in walls of
alveoli
Oxygen then diffuse across walls of alveoli
It the enters the blood in capillaries
Red blood cells in blood picks up oxygen
Oxygen is then circulated to the rest of the body via the circulatory
system by the heart
At the same time oxygen passes into the blood, carbon dioxide leaves the
blood in the opposite pathway so that it can be exhaled from the lungs.

What makes the alveoli the perfect place for gaseous exchange?

Alveoli is thin just one cell thick

It has a large surface area
It has a good supply of blood
Alveoli has a continuous supply of oxygen
It is moist (cells in walls of alveoli secretes fluid/liquid)
 Smoking and the respiratory tract
Cigarette smoking poses some serious health risks. It is the single largest preventable
cause of disease and premature death. It is a factor in heart disease, strokes and chronic
lung disease. It can cause cancer of the lungs, larynx, oesophagus, mouth and bladder,
and contributes to cancer of the cervix, pancreas and kidneys

How smoking affects the body

*Smoke contains chemicals that cause cancer (carcinogenic)
*When smoke cools, tar settles in lungs
* carbon monoxide a poisonous gas in smoke combines irreversibly with
haemoglobin and prevents haemoglobin from transporting oxygen to your cells
* Nicotine raises your heart beat and increases your blood pressure

Gaseous exchange in fishes

Oxygen is difficult to extract from water. Therefore fishes need an efficient system
to do this, Hence their specially adopted to obtain oxygen from water by using
their gills.

The outside of each gill bar is covered by rows of leaf-like tissue called lamellae
(singular lamella
:*Each lamella is folded into gill plates, which greatly increases the surface area
of the gills.
*Blood vessels at the base of each gill branch into dense networks of capillaries in
the lamellae.
*As water passes over the lamellae, the dissolved oxygen in the water diffuses into
the blood flowing through the dense network of capillaries.
*At the same time, carbon dioxide diffuses out of the blood into the gills, where it
is carried away in the water.
The exchange of gases in gills is efficient because the flow of blood through the
lamellae and the flow of water over the lamellae are in opposite directions
*The flow of water through the mouth and over the gill lamellae is called the
respiratory current.
*The coordinated opening and closing of the mouth and opercula results in a
continuous flow of water over the surfaces of the lamellae.
*The water does not enter the gut because muscles at its upper end contract,
closing off the opening
Structure of fish gill