 The primary function of the respiratory system is to exchange oxygen and carbon

dioxide.
 Inhaled oxygen enters the lungs and reaches the alveoli. The layers of cells lining the
alveoli and the surrounding capillaries are each only one cell thick and are in very close
contact with each other.
 Oxygen passes quickly through this air-blood barrier into the blood in the capillaries.
 Similarly, carbon dioxide passes from the blood into the alveoli and is then exhaled.
 Oxygenated blood travels from the lungs through the pulmonary veins and into the left
side of the heart, which pumps the blood to the rest of the body .
 Oxygen-deficient, carbon dioxide-rich blood returns to the right side of the heart
through two large veins, the superior vena cava and the inferior vena cava.
 Then the blood is pumped through the pulmonary artery to the lungs, where it picks up
oxygen and releases carbon dioxide.
Gas exchange between Alveolar Spaces and Capillaries

 As shown below, inhaled oxygen moves from the alveoli to the blood in the capillaries,
and carbon dioxide moves from the blood in the capillaries to the air in the alveoli.

Three processes are essential for the transfer of oxygen from the outside air to the blood
flowing through the lungs: ventilation, diffusion, and perfusion.

 Ventilation is the process by which air moves in and out of the lungs.
  Diffusion is the spontaneous movement of gases, without the use of any energy or
effort by the body, between the gas in the alveoli and the blood in the capillaries in the
lungs.
 Perfusion is the process by which the cardiovascular system pumps blood throughout
the lungs.

Gas Exchange

 The actual exchanging of gases is dependent upon important structures such as lungs or
gills, and the principle of diffusion.
 Diffusion is the process where molecules or particles move from an area where they are
very concentrated into an area where they are less concentrated.

Below is an illustration showing the process of diffusion.

 This is relevant during respiration because oxygen and carbon dioxide are often highly
concentrated on opposite sides of a cell membrane. Diffusion allows gas exchange to
occur.

GAS EXCHANGE IN ANIMALS

 In animals with a closed circulatory system (such as birds, mammals, reptiles, and some
amphibians), gas exchange takes place across the capillaries.
Insects

 The respiratory system in insects consists of a network of tubes, called tracheae, which
directly ventilate the tissues. Actively moving air to the site of gas exchange is
called ventilation.
 The tubes divide and branch out into smaller and smaller tubes extending into all parts
of the insect, similar to the way arteries branch out into tiny capillaries in a closed
circulatory system.
 Insects have openings scattered throughout its body called spiracles. Spiracles are
openings to the tracheae.
 In small insects, gas exchange occurs by diffusion only.
 Larger insects will actively breathe to pump air into the tubes.

AQUATIC INSECTS
 Aquatic insects must seal their spiracles when they are under water to prevent flooding
their tubes.
 Amazingly, some aquatic insects even have specialized spiracles that can puncture
underwater plants and access those plants' oxygen storage centers.

Mammals

 The chief organ in mammalian respiration is the lungs.

 The lungs are actively ventilated via a suction-pump mechanism of inhalation and
exhalation.
 Breathing is dependent upon the rib muscles and the diaphragm, a structure shaped like
a dome-shaped floor just beneath the lungs.
 Inhalation happens when the rib cage opens up and the diaphragm flattens and moves
downward.
 The lungs expand into the larger space, causing the air pressure inside to decrease. The
drop in air pressure inside the lung makes the outside air rush in.
 Exhalation is the opposite process. The diaphragm and the rib muscles relax to their
neutral state, causing the lungs to contract. The squashing of the lungs increases their
air pressure and forces the air to flow out.

The left image shows inhalation with a flattened diaphragm. The right side shows the dome-shaped

diaphragm forcing the air out during exhalation.

 Most mammals are nose breathers. Inhaling through the nose warms and moistens the
air.
 Air then reaches the epiglottis, the tiny leaf-shaped flap at the back of the throat.
 The epiglottis regulates air going into the windpipe and closes upon swallowing to
prevent food from being inhaled. It’s the gatekeeper to the lungs.

 The tiny alveoli (plural of alveolus) are crucial because they increase the surface area
used for gas exchange.
 If the lungs were just empty sacs, then only area available for gas exchange would be
the walls of the lungs.
 In humans, that comes out to an area of approximately 0.01 m2. The alveoli, though,
provide a whopping 75m2 of surface area where oxygen absorption can take place.
 Gas exchange takes place in the capillaries, so the alveoli have a close working
relationship with the network of capillaries.
 This brings the blood-carrying waste products close enough to the fresh air for diffusion
to take place.
 The waste is removed and the oxygen is taken up by the blood.
 The hemoglobin in blood attaches oxygen molecules. Each hemoglobin protein can
carry four passengers of oxygen at one time.
 Oxygen is delivered to the cells and carbon dioxide is removed. Water vapor and carbon
dioxide are exhaled, and the process begins again with inhalation.
 There are sections of the brain, called the medulla and pons that regulate respiration.
 They control the rate of respiration by monitoring carbon dioxide levels in the blood.
 In times of excitement or during exercise, the cells require more oxygen than normal
and respiration speeds up.

Reptiles and Amphibians

 Reptiles and amphibians have lungs and exchange gases in the capillaries like mammals,
but there are some differences in how they ventilate their respiratory systems.
 Reptiles don’t typically breathe the same way as mammals, since many reptiles lack a
diaphragm.
 Reptiles use their axial muscles, the ones attached to their ribs, to expand their ribcage
for breathing.
 During periods of intense activity, reptiles might be forced to hold their breath, as they
use those muscles for running away.
 Some reptiles get around this by buccal pumping while they run.
 Buccal pumping is when an animal uses the muscles of the mouth and throat to pull air
into the lungs.
 Muscles pull air through the mouth or nose into a buccal cavity.
 Throat muscles then pump and move the floor of the mouth up in a way that’s visible
from the outside.
 This forces air out of the mouth and into the lungs. This is what amphibians do, by
puffing up their chinny-chin-chins to get the air in.
  Apart from their capillaries, amphibians perform gas exchange directly through their
skin.
 This works for them because their skin has lots of blood vessels very close to the
permeable skin surface.
 Diffusion can take place right through the skin.

Birds

 The respiratory system of birds is similar to that of mammals.

 Air is pulled in using a suction-type pull.

 Gases are exchanged in the capillaries.

 The major difference is the route of airflow through the body.

 Birds have air sacs that collect air. They then force the air through their lungs.

 When a bird inhales, air is brought into the posterior air sacs, which expand.

 Then the bird exhales and the air is forced from the posterior air sacs into the lungs,
where gas exchange occurs.

 It takes two full inhalations and exhalations to move one gulp of air through the bird.
AQUATIC RESPIRATION
 In fish, respiration takes place in the gills.
 Gills collect dissolved oxygen from the water and release carbon dioxide.
 Gills are much more complex than just a slit in the cheeks of a fish.
 Gills are comprised of gill arches with hundreds of gill filaments extending from them.
 Each filament is lined with rows of lamellae, and the gas exchange takes place as water
flows through them.
  The frills and flaps increase the surface area to allow more gas exchange to take place,
just as the alveoli do in the lungs.

 Fish utilize a countercurrent exchange pathway (except for cartilaginous fish), which
means that their arteries are arranged so that blood flows in the opposite direction of
water movement against the gills.
 While all fish have gills, one fish also has lungs.
 The lungfish can survive when its water habitat dries up from seasonal drought.
 There’s also certain land crabs that have both lungs and gills, and can breathe both
under the sea and on land.

Transport of Oxygen in the Blood

 Although oxygen dissolves in blood, only a small amount of oxygen is transported this
way.
 Only 1.5 percent of oxygen in the blood is dissolved directly into the blood itself. Most
oxygen, about 98.5 percent, is bound to a protein called hemoglobin and carried to the
tissues.

Hemoglobin

 Hemoglobin, or Hb, is a protein molecule found in red blood cells (erythrocytes) made of
four subunits: two alpha subunits and two beta subunits.
 Each subunit surrounds a central heme group that contains iron and binds one oxygen
molecule, allowing each hemoglobin molecule to bind four oxygen molecules.
 Molecules with more oxygen bound to the heme groups are brighter red.
 As a result, oxygenated arterial blood where the Hb is carrying four oxygen molecules is
bright red, while venous blood that is deoxygenated is darker red.

 The protein inside (a) red blood cells that carries oxygen to cells and carbon dioxide to
the lungs is (b) hemoglobin.
 Hemoglobin is made up of four symmetrical subunits and four heme groups. Iron
associated with the heme binds oxygen.
 It is the iron in hemoglobin that gives blood its red color.
 It is easier to bind a second and third oxygen molecule to Hb than the first molecule.
 This is because the hemoglobin molecule changes its shape, or conformation, as oxygen
binds.

**Due to some conformation changes, the fourth oxygen can be said to be slightly more
difficult to bind, but generally, cooperative binding increases the ability of oxygen to bind to
hemoglobin and achieve greater saturation.**