Anatomy and Physiology Respiratory System

Your respiratory system is made up of the organs in your body that help you to breathe. Remember, that Respiration = Breathing. The goal of breathing is to deliver oxygen to the body and to take away carbon dioxide. Respiration is the sequence of events that results in the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between the atmosphere and the body cells. Every 3 to 5 seconds, nerve impulses stimulate the breathing process, or ventilation, which moves air through a series of passages into and out of the lungs. After this, there is an exchange of gases between the lungs and the blood. This is called external respiration. The blood transports the gases to and from the tissue cells. The exchange of gases between the blood and tissue cells is internal respiration. Finally, the cells utilize the oxygen for their specific activities. This is cellular metabolism, or cellular respiration. Together these activities constitute respiration. Pulmonary ventilation Pulmonary ventilation is commonly referred to as breathing. It is the process of air flowing into the lungs during inspiration (inhalation) and out of the lungs during expiration (exhalation). Air flows because of pressure differences between the atmosphere and the gases inside the lungs. Inspiration Inspiration (inhalation) is the process of taking air into the lungs. It is the active phase of ventilation because it is the result of muscle contraction. During inspiration, the diaphragm contracts and the thoracic cavity increases in volume. This decreases the intraalveolar pressure so that air flows into the lungs. Inspiration draws air into the lungs.

Expiration Expiration (exhalation) is the process of letting air out of the lungs during the breathing cycle. During expiration, the relaxation of the diaphragm and elastic recoil of tissue decreases the thoracic volume and increases the intraalveolar pressure. Expiration pushes air out of the lungs. Respiratory capacity (pulmonary capacity) is the sum of two or more volumes. Factors such as age, sex, body build, and physical conditioning have an influence on lung volumes and capacities. Lungs usually reach their maximumin capacity in early adulthood and decline with age after that. Lungs The two lungs, which contain all the components of the bronchial tree beyond the primary bronchi, occupy most of the space in the thoracic cavity. The lungs are soft and spongy because they are mostly air spaces surrounded by the alveolar cells and elastic connective tissue. They are separated from each other by the mediastinum, which contains the heart. The only point of attachment for each lung is at the hilum, or root, on the medial side. This is where the bronchi, blood vessels, lymphatics, and nerves enter the lungs. The right lung is shorter, broader, and has a greater volume than the left lung. It is divided into three lobes and each lobe is supplied by one of the secondary bronchi. The left lung is longer and narrower than the right lung. It has an indentation, called the cardiac notch, on its medial surface for the apex of the heart. The left lung has two lobes. Each lung is enclosed by a double-layered serous membrane, called the pleura. The visceral pleura is firmly attached to the surface of the lung. At the hilum, the visceral pleura is continuous with the parietal pleura that lines the wall of the thorax. The small space between the visceral and parietal pleurae is the pleural cavity. It contains a thin film of serous fluid that is produced by the pleura. The fluid acts as a lubricant to reduce

friction as the two layers slide against each other, and it helps to hold the two layers together as the lungs inflate and deflate

Endocrine System
The thyroid gland is found in the neck, below the thyroid cartilage (which forms the laryngeal prominence, or 'Adam's Apple'). The isthmus (the bridge between the two lobes of the thyroid) is located inferior to the cricoid cartilage. The thyroid gland controls how quickly the body uses energy, makes proteins, and controls how sensitive the body should be to other hormones. It participates in these processes by producing thyroid hormones, the principal ones being triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4). These hormones regulate the rate of metabolismand affect the growth and rate of function of many other systems in the body.

T3 and T4 production and action Synthesis of the thyroid hormones, as seen on an individual thyroid follicular cell: Thyroglobulin is synthesized in the rough endoplasmic reticulum and follows the secretory pathway to enter the colloid in the lumen of the thyroid follicle by exocytosis. Meanwhile, a sodium-iodide (Na/I) symporter pumps iodide (I) actively into the cell, which previously has crossed the endothelium by largely unknown mechanisms.This iodide enters the follicular lumen from the cytoplasm by the transporter pendrin, in a purportedly passive manner. In the colloid, iodide (I-) is oxidized to iodine (I0) by an enzyme calledthyroid peroxidase. Iodine (I0) is very reactive and iodinates the thyroglobulin at tyrosylresidues in its protein chain (in total containing approximately 120 tyrosyl residues).In conjugation, adjacent tyrosyl residues are paired together. The entire complex re-enters

the follicular cell by endocytosis.Proteolysis byvarious proteases liberates thyroxine and triiodothyroninemolecules, which enters the blood by largely unknown mechanisms. Thyroxine (T4) is synthesised by the follicular cells from free tyrosine and on the tyrosine residues of the protein called thyroglobulin (Tg). Iodine is captured with the "iodine trap" by the hydrogen peroxide generated by the enzyme thyroid peroxidase (TPO) and linked to the 3' and 5' sites of the benzene ring of the tyrosine residues on Tg, and on free tyrosine. Upon stimulation by thethyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), the follicular cells reabsorb Tg and cleave the iodinated tyrosines from Tg in lysosomes, forming T4 and T3 (in T3, one iodine atom is absent compared to T4), and releasing them into the blood. Deiodinase enzymes convert T4 to T3. Thyroid hormone secreted from the gland is about 80-90% T4 and about 10-20%

Cardiovascular System
The cardiovascular system is sometimes called the circulatory system. It consists of the heart, which is a muscular pumping device, and a closed system of vessels called arteries, veins, and capillaries. As the name implies, blood contained in the circulatory system is pumped by the heart around a closed circuit of vessels as it passes again and again through the various "circulations" of the body. The Heart The heart is enclosed by a sac known as the pericardium. There are three layers of tissues that form the heart wall. The outer layer of the heart wall is the epicardium, the middle layer is the myocardium, and the inner layer is the endocardium. The internal cavity of the heart is divided into four chambers: Right atrium Left atrium Right ventricle Left ventricle

The two atria are thin-walled chambers that receive blood from the veins. The two ventricles are thick-walled chambers that forcefully pump blood out of the heart. Differences in thickness of the heart chamber walls are due to variations in the amount of myocardium present, which reflects the amount of force each chamber is required to generate. The right atrium receives deoxygenated blood from systemic veins; the left atrium receives oxygenated blood from the pulmonary veins. Valves of the Heart Pumps need a set of valves to keep the fluid flowing in one direction and the heart is no exception. The heart has two types of valves that keep the blood flowing in the correct direction. The valves between the atria and ventricles are called atrioventricular valves (also called cuspid valves), while those at the bases of the large vessels leaving the ventricles are called semilunar valves. The right atrioventricular valve is the tricuspid valve. The left atrioventricular valve is the bicuspid, or mitral, valve. The valve between the right ventricle and pulmonary trunk is the pulmonary semilunar valve. The valve between the left ventricle and the aorta is the aortic semilunar valve. When the ventricles contract, atrioventricular valves close to prevent blood from flowing back into the atria. When the ventricles relax, semilunar valves close to prevent blood from flowing back into the ventricles.

Pathway of Blood through the Heart While it is convenient to describe the flow of blood through the right side of the heart and then through the left side, it is important to realize that both atria contract at the same time and both ventricles contract at the same time. The heart works as two pumps, one on the right and one on the left, working

simultaneously. Blood flows from the right atrium to the right ventricle, and then is pumped to the lungs to receive oxygen. From the lungs, the blood flows to the left atrium, then to the left ventricle. From there it is pumped to the systemic circulation. Blood Supply to the Myocardium The myocardium of the heart wall is a working muscle that needs a continuous supply of oxygen and nutrients to function with efficiency. For this reason, cardiac muscle has an extensive network of blood vessels to bring oxygen to the contracting cells and to remove waste products. The right and left coronary arteries, branches of the ascending aorta, supply blood to the walls of the myocardium. After blood passes through the capillaries in the myocardium, it enters a system of cardiac (coronary) veins. Most of the cardiac veins drain into the coronary sinus, which opens into the right atrium.