Chapter 22: The Respiratory System

The student should be able to:

1. Identify and describe the respiratory passageways and organs in descending order
from the nares until the alveoli are reached. Distinguish between conducting and
respiratory zone structures.
2. Describe the components of the respiratory membrane, and relate its structure to its
function.
3. Explain the relative roles of the respiratory muscles and lung elasticity in producing
the volume changes that cause inspiration and expiration.
4. Explain the functional importance of the partial vacuum that exists in the intrapleural
space.
5. State the normal values for intrapleural pressure (Pip), intrapulmonary pressure (Ppul),
and transpulmonary pressure at the end of an unforced expiration.
6. Explain the influence of physical factors on pulmonary ventilation, including lung
compliance, airway resistance, alveolar surface tension, and surfactant.
7. Explain the difference in composition between alveolar air and atmospheric air.
8. Describe the partial pressure gradients for oxygen and carbon dioxide across the
respiratory membrane and across the walls of systemic capillaries of a normal person
at rest and explain how they influence the events of external and internal respiration.
9. Describe how oxygen is transported in the blood.
10. Draw an oxygen-hemoglobin dissociation curve, putting labels and values on the axes.
Label the points that represent the values for systemic venous and systemic arterial
blood. Explain the importance of the sigmoidal shape of this curve. Explain how oxygen
loading and unloading is affected by temperature, pH, and Pco2.
11. Describe carbon dioxide transport in the blood.
12. Describe the neural controls of respiration.
13. Compare and contrast the influences of lung reflexes, brain centers, arterial pH, and
partial pressures of oxygen and carbon dioxide in arterial blood on respiratory rate and
depth.
14. Do the following Review Questions at the end of Chapter 22: 1 – 8, 10 - 25.

Key Terms:
respiration, pulmonary ventilation, external respiration, transport of respiratory gases,
internal respiration, respiratory zone, conducting zone

nose, nasal cavity, nostrils (nares), olfactory mucosa, respiratory mucosa

pharynx
larynx
trachea, mucosa

bronchial tree, conducting zone, main (primary) bronchi, lobar (secondary) bronchi,
segmental (tertiary) bronchi, bronchioles, terminal bronchioles, respiratory zone, alveoli,

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