Chapter 13

ZOOLOGY 200
THE RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
What is respiration?
 the process of gas exchange with the external environment (cellular respiration deals with
production of energy).
 Respiration occurs through respiratory membranes which must be highly vascular, with a moist
surface in contact with the environment.

Functions of Respiration:
 For gaseous exchange
– In blood arriving at the alveolar capillaries, Po2 = 40 mm Hg, while Pco2 = 45 mm Hg.
– In very metabolically active tissues, these values can change to 25 and 46 mm Hg
respectively
 For Phonation
- plays a role in social communication through the production of sounds
Oxygen Transport
 Hemoglobin can carry 60 times as much oxygen as water. Its four polypeptide chains contain four
heme groups and each deoxyhemoglobin can reversibly associate with one O2, forming
oxyhemoglobin.
 In addition, when a consistently low Po2 occurs in the blood, the hormone erythropoietin is
released, stimulating new red cell formation, a slower, long-term adjustment.
Carbon Dioxide Transport
 In the transport of CO2,
– about 8% of the CO2 goes into solution in plasma;
– the remainder enters the red cells. Some associates with amino acids in hemoglobin,
forming carbaminohemoglobin, and the rest forms carbonic acid with water in the red cell;
– within the red cell, carbonic acid dissociates into bicarbonate and hydrogen ions (acid).
Respiratory System Principles
MOST OF RESPIRATORY SYSTEM IS LINED
WITH PSEUDOSTRATIFIED CILIATED
COLUMNAR EPITHELIUM containing many
GOBLET CELLS.
  Respiration is under the control of the autonomic nervous system and is ultimately involuntary.
 Respiration is strongly influenced by the Pco2 and the pH of the blood.
 A respiratory control center in the medulla reacts to changes in these factors.
 Other sensors are located in the aortic and carotid bodies, and fourth ventricle of the brain.

Types of Respiration
 1. DIRECT RESPIRATION
 2. INDIRECT RESPIRATION
2.1External respiration--specialized organs to accomplish gaseous exchange:
A.Certain fetal membranes.
B. Skin surface
C. Gills
D. Lungs
2.2.Internal respiration--exchange of gases in capillary beds.
Efficiency increased by:
A. Large surface contact
B. reduction of barrier between medium and blood.
C. Providing adequate time for exchange.
D. Establishing large diffusion gradient.
 Pulmonary ventilation Movement of air into and out of the lungs so that the gases in the air sacs,
alveoli, of the lungs are continuously changed and refreshed.
 Cutaneous respiration.
Probably employed by chordates ancestral to vertebrates.
 Transport of respiratory gases in the bloodstream: Transport of 02 and CO2 between the lungs and
tissue cells of the body using the blood as the transporting fluid
Respiratory pigments
 Hemoglobin
 is a protein that carries oxygen and is found in the blood of most animals.
 It is synthesized by and is contained within erythrocytes (red blood cells).
 Oxygen is bound reversibly to the iron portion.
 Hemoglobin increases the oxygen-carry capacity of the blood by 70 times. 95% of the oxygen is
transported by hemoglobin, 5% in blood plasma.
 The bright red color occurs when it is bound with oxygen

 Hemocyanin
 is a carrier protein found in many invertebrates
 It uses copper instead of iron.
 It does not occur within blood cells; it exists free in the blood. (Their blood is called hemolymph.)
 It is bright blue when bound with oxygen.
Characteristics of Respiratory organs
 Highly vascularized
 Must be with thin Epithelium
 Surface must be moist
 Must be in contact with External Environment
 With Large Surface Area
EPIDERMIS OF EARTHWORM BOOK LUNG OF INSECTS

TRACHEAL TUBES

Aerobic respiration
 takes place in almost all living things.
 It is easy to get rid of the Carbon Dioxide and excess
water; this is excretion (the removal of the toxic waste
products of metabolism), and maximum energy is released
from the glucose.
 1. Lungs
 2. Air sacs
Water Respiration
1. Oropharyngeal Mucosa
2. External and Internal
gills
3. Swim bladders and lungs
4. Skin
GILLS as a Respiratory Organ
1. Pouched gills (Agnatha)
 external and internal pores rather than gill slits, and water is drawn into the gill chambers through
the mouth and then passed over the gills.
2. Septal gills (Elasmobranchs)
 Sharks have gill slits rather than pores, and gill septa that help support gill filaments.
 The exception occurs when the shark is feeding, when water moves into the pharynx through the
spiracle.
3. Opercular gills (bony fishes)
 Bony fishes have no septa (are aseptate) but gill bars anchor gill filaments.
 The operculum, a bony gill covering, protects the filaments, and expiration occurs through a single
gill slit.

Mechanism

SWIMBLADDERS
Swim Bladder Function
1) Hydrostatic function
 Change buoyancy in water duct
2) Respiration
 Lined with blood vessels
3) Sound production-
 resonating chamber-teeth grinding
 Belching, drumming
4) Sound or pressure reception
 Swim bladder vibrates and transmits sound to inner ear
  Connected to ear (sacculus and lagena) by Weberian ossicles

Open swim bladder configuration connected to intestine for gas exchange

thru esophagus. Swim Bladder = Blue; Intestine = Gray

 Closed swim bladder configuration connected to circulatory system for gas

exchange thru blood. Swim Bladder = Blue; Intestine = Gray; Circulatory System = Red

PNEUMATIC DUCTS OF SWIM BLADDERS

 when present in adults, connects to the ventral
aspect of the esophagus (dipnoans, chondrosteans)
 shifted towards Dorsal side
(holosteans, teleosts)
Types:
 Physostomous (bladder mouth)-have a
pneumatic duct attached near the pharynx
*pneumatic duct is open
 Physoclistous (bladder closed)-a gas bladder
lacking a pneumatic duct
*in more specialized fish
*pneumatic duct is closed
Chondrichthyes
(Cartilaginous Fishes)
RESPIRATION MAY BE ACCOMPLISHED BY THE TWO STEP PULSE PUMP USED BY BONY FISHES (SLOWER
MOVING AND BENTHIC SPECIES).
BY RAM VENTILATION(HIGH SPEED PELAGIC SHARKS)
OR BY BRINGING WATER IN THE SPIRACLE AND OUT THE GILLS (STILL A PULSE PUMP; USED BY SKATES
AND RAYS).

 The amphibian lung is a simple paired saclike affair, inflated

and deflated by a pumping action in muscular mouth floor.
Check valves in the nostrils and glottis help coordinate the
filling and emptying cycles.
  Amphibians also use the skin as an exchange surface.

Skin as Respiratory organ

 The skin can be used as a respiratory surface but it does not have much surface area compared to
lungs or gills. Animals that rely on their skin as a respiratory organ are small and either have low
metabolic rates or they also have lungs or gills.
 Like all respiratory surfaces, the skin must remain moist to function in gas exchange.
 Amphibians, most annelids, some mollusks, and some arthropods use their skin as a respiratory
organ.
REPTILES
 Reptiles have more efficient lungs than amphibians.
 Reptiles do not need to use their skin for gas exchange because the lungs are sufficient. They have
a thick, scaly skin with keratin that makes it impermeable to water.
 Internal fertilization allows animals to mate without having to be in water.
 The eggs are encased in leathery shells to protect them from desiccation. This eliminates the need
for a swimming larval stage.
 watertight skin; not used as a respiratory surface
 lungs possess alveoli
 all diffusion occurs across alveolar surface
AVES
 A major feature of the respiratory system of birds is
pneumatisation of the long bones, the vertebral column
and even the skull. These air spaces connect with the air
sacs.
 Trachea
 Parabronchi
 One way branches
 Air capillaries
 Nine air sacs are connected to lungs
 Interclavicular
 2 cervicals
 2 anterior thoracic
 2 posterior thoracic
 2 abdominal
 Air is drawn into Parabronchi and posterior air sacs
 Two cycles of ventilation to remove air in respiratory
system.
 Trachea branches into posterior thoracic and abdominal air
sacs first
 Spent air enters anterior air sacs before being exhaled.
Most birds have 9 air sacs:
 one interclavicular sac
 two cervical sacs
 two anterior thoracic sacs
 two posterior thoracic sacs
 two abdominal sacs
 Functionally, these 9 air sacs can be divided into anterior
sacs (interclavicular, cervicals, & anterior thoracics) &
posterior sacs (posterior thoracics & abdominals).
 Air sacs have very thin walls with few blood vessels. So,
they do not play a direct role in gas exchange. Rather,
they act as a 'bellows' to ventilate the lungS.
Mammals
 This system includes the lungs, pathways connecting them to the outside environment, and
structures in the chest involved with moving air in and out of the lungs.
 Air enters the body through the nose, is warmed, filtered, and passed through the nasal cavity. Air
passes the pharynx (which has the epiglottis that prevents food from entering the trachea).The
upper part of the trachea contains the larynx. The vocal cords are two bands of tissue that extend
 across the opening of the larynx. After passing the larynx, the air moves into the bronchi that carry
air in and out of the lungs.

Structures
o nose
o pharynx
o epiglottis (open space is the glottis)
o larynx with vocal cords
o trachea
o bronchi
o Bronchioles
o Alveoli

Larynx:
can function as a sphincter during a cough, sneeze or when performing a Valsalva’s maneuver (abdominal
straining during defecation or urination).
 1) The upper pair are the false vocal cords.
 2) The lower pair are the true vocal cords.
 Changing tension on the vocal cords controls pitch.
 Increasing the loudness depends upon increasing the force of air vibrating the vocal cords.
 3) During normal breathing, the vocal cords are relaxed and the glottis is a triangular slit.
 During swallowing, the false vocal cords and epiglottis close off the glottis.
Bronchial Tree
 a. The bronchial tree consists of branched tubes leading
from the trachea to the alveoli.
 b. The bronchial tree begins with the two primary
bronchi at T7, each leading to a lung. Within each lung
they continue to subdivide into smaller and smaller
passageways.
 c. Branches of the Bronchial Tree
 The successive divisions of the bronchial tree from the
trachea to alveoli are as follows:
 a) right and left primary bronchi;
 b) secondary (lobar) bronchi;
 3 on the right
 2 on the left
 Tertiary (segmental) bronchi;
 intralobular bronchioles;
 terminal bronchioles;
 respiratory bronchioles;
 alveolar ducts;
 alveolar sacs; and
 alveoli
ALVEOLI

Lungs
* ARE A PAIR OF CONE SHAPED ORGANS LYNING IN THE
PLEURAL CAVITIES.
 THE APEX IS THE CONICAL TOP OF EACH LUNG, AND
THE BROAD INFERIOR PORTION IS THE BASE.
 EACH LUNG HAS A HILUS, A MEDIAL SLIT WHERE THE
BRONCHIAL TUBES, VASCULARIZATION, LYMPHATICS,
AND NERVES REACH THE LUNG.
 EACH LUNG IS DIVIDED INTO LOBES BY DEEP FISURES
 RIGHT LUNG HAS THREE LOBES AND LEFT LUNG HAS
TWO LOBES
 LEFT LUNG IS DIVIDE BY AN OBLIQUE FISSURE INTO
SUPERIOR AND INFERIOR LOBES
 RIGHT LUNG IS DIVIDED IN THREE LOBES
( SUPERIOR, MIDDLE and INFERIOR )
 Superior and Middle lobes are separated by a HORIZONTAL FISSURE.
  The OBLIQUE FISSURE separates Inferior and Middle lobes.
RESPIRATORY PHENOMENA
 EUPNEA – ordinary quite respiration that is made without obvious effort
 DYSPNEA – more labored breathing due to increase in the force or rate of respiratory movements
 HYPERNEA – initial stage of dyspnea, when respiration is increased
 APNEA – lack of breathing or ceasation of breathing movements due to lack of stimulation of the
respiratory center, due to rapid and prolonged ventilation of the lungs.

Inspiration
 a. Atmospheric pressure is the force that moves air into the lungs.
 b. Inspiration occurs when the diaphragm and intercostals muscles contract, increasing the
dimensions (and volume) of the thorax.
 c. As the intrapulmonary pressure drops (pressure on the inside of the lungs decreases) higher
pressure air flows from the outside into the lungs until the intrapulmonary and atmospheric
pressures are equalized.
 d. Air pressure inside the lungs is decreased by increasing the size of the thoracic cavity;
 compliance.
Expiration
– Expiration is largely passive, occurring as the inspiratory muscles relax and the lungs and
muscle tissues recoil.
– When intrapulmonary pressure exceeds atmospheric pressure, gases flow from the lungs.
– Forced expiration is aided by thoracic and abdominal wall muscles that compress the
abdomen against the diaphragm

RESPIRATORY DISORDERS
four general areas:
• Obstructive conditions (e.g., emphysema, bronchitis, asthma attacks)
• Restrictive conditions (e.g., fibrosis, sarcoidosis, alveolar damage, pleural effusion)
• Vascular diseases (e.g., pulmonary edema, pulmonary embolism, pulmonary hypertension)
• Infectious, environmental and other diseases (e.g., pneumonia, tuberculosis, asbestosis, particulate
pollutants) It is in this category that coughing is of major importance, as it is the body's main
method to remove dust, mucus, saliva, and other debris from the lungs. Inability to cough
can lead to infection and inflammation. Deep breathing exercises may help keep finer structures of
the lungs clear from particulate matter, and so forth.