THE RESPIRATORY SYSTEM

COMPILED BY HOWIE BAUM

Through breathing,
inhalation and exhalation,
the respiratory system
facilitates the exchange of
gases between the air and
the blood and between
the blood and the body’s
cells.

The respiratory system

also helps us to smell
things and create sound.

The following are the five

key functions of the
respiratory system.
The respiratory system aids in breathing, also
called pulmonary ventilation.

In pulmonary ventilation, air is inhaled

through the nasal and oral cavities (the nose
and mouth).

It moves through the pharynx, larynx, and

trachea into the lungs. Then air is exhaled,
flowing back through the same pathway.

Changes to the volume and air pressure in the

lungs trigger pulmonary ventilation.

During normal inhalation, the diaphragm and

external intercostal muscles contract and the
ribcage elevates.

As the volume of the lungs increases, air

pressure drops and air rushes in.

During normal exhalation, the muscles relax.

The lungs become smaller, the air pressure
rises, and air is expelled.
Inside the lungs, oxygen is
exchanged for carbon dioxide waste
through the process called external
respiration.

This respiratory process takes place

through hundreds of millions of
microscopic sacs called alveoli.

Oxygen from inhaled air diffuses

from the alveoli into pulmonary
capillaries surrounding them.

It binds to hemoglobin molecules in

red blood cells and is pumped
through the bloodstream.

Meanwhile, carbon dioxide from

deoxygenated blood diffuses from
the capillaries into the alveoli and is
expelled through exhalation.
The bloodstream delivers oxygen to
cells and removes waste carbon
dioxide through internal respiration,
another key function of the respiratory
system.

In this respiratory process, red blood

cells carry oxygen absorbed from the
lungs around the body, through the
vasculature.

When oxygenated blood reaches the

narrow capillaries, the red blood cells
release the oxygen.

It diffuses through the capillary walls

into body tissues. Meanwhile, carbon
dioxide diffuses from the tissues into
red blood cells and plasma.

The deoxygenated blood carries the

carbon dioxide back to the lungs for
release.
The upper respiratory system,
or upper respiratory tract,
consists of the nose and nasal
cavity, the pharynx, and the
larynx.

These structures allow us to

breathe and speak.

They warm and clean the air

we inhale.

mucous membranes lining

upper respiratory structures
trap some foreign particles,
including smoke and other
pollutants, before the air
travels down to the lungs.
 OLFACTION (SMELLING)

The nasal cavities are chambers of the internal nose.

In front, the nostrils, or nares, create openings to the

outside world.

Air is inhaled through the nostrils and warmed as it moves

further into the nasal cavities. Scroll-shaped bones, the
nasal conchae, protrude and form spaces through which the
air passes.

The conchae swirl the air around to allow the air time to
humidify, warm, and be cleaned before it enters the lungs.

Epithelial cilia (commonly called “nose hair”) and a mucous

membrane line the inside of the cavities.

The cilia, along with mucus produced by seromucous and

other glands in the membrane, trap unwanted particles.

Finally the filtered, warmed air passes out of the back of the
nasal cavities into the nasopharynx, the uppermost part of
the pharynx.
The paranasal sinuses are four paired,
air-filled cavities found inside bones of
the skull.

These sinuses are named for the skull

bones that contain them:

Frontal

Ethmoidal

Sphenoidal

Maxillary

Mucosae line the paranasal sinuses

and help to warm and humidify the air
we inhale.

When air enters the sinuses from the

nasal cavities, mucus formed by the
muscosae drains into the nasal
cavities.
The pharynx, or throat, is shaped like a funnel.

During respiration, it conducts air between the

larynx and trachea (or “windpipe”) and the
nasal and the oral cavities.

The pharynx includes three regions: The

nasopharynx is posterior to the nasal cavity and
serves only as a passageway for air.

The oropharynx lies posterior to the oral cavity

and contains the palatine tonsils.

Both air and ingested food pass through the

oropharynx and through the laryngopharynx
below.

The laryngopharynx lies posterior to the

epiglottis and connects to the larynx and the
esophagus.

As we breathe, the epiglottis stays up and air

passes freely between the laryngopharynx and
the larynx.
The larynx connects the lower part of the
pharynx, the laryngopharynx, to the trachea.

It keeps the air passages open during breathing

and digestion and is the key organ for producing
sound.

This larynx is comprised of nine cartilages.

One, the epiglottis, is a lifesaver: Located

on the posterior side of the larynx, the
epiglottis closes like a trap door as we
swallow.

This action steers food down the

esophagus and away from the windpipe.

Inside the larynx are the vocal folds (or

true vocal cords), which have elastic
ligaments at their core.

When we speak, yell, or sing, air coming up

from the lungs and trachea vibrates the
folds, producing the sound.
Phonation is the creation of sound by
structures in the upper respiratory tract of the
respiratory system.

During exhalation, air passes from the lungs

through the larynx, or “voice box.”

When we speak, muscles in the larynx move

the arytenoid cartilages.

The arytenoid cartilages push the vocal cords,

or vocal folds, together.

When the cords are pushed together, air

passing between them makes them
vibrate, creating sound.

Greater tension in the vocal cords creates

more rapid vibrations and higher-pitched
sounds.

Lesser tension causes slower vibration and a

lower pitch.
The U-shaped hyoid bone, located
just under the chin, is an important
contributor to both respiratory and
digestive processes.

Is the Only Bone in the Body That

Doesn’t Touch Another Bone !!

The hyoid is attached to the tongue,

and helps you to swallow at the start
of digestion.

In the respiratory system, structures

that produce sound depend on the
hyoid.

The body and the greater horns of the

bone serve as attachment points for
neck muscles that raise and lower the
larynx during speech (as well as
during swallowing).
The process of olfaction begins with
olfactory fibers that line the nasal
cavities inside the nose.

As air enters the cavities, some

chemicals in the air bind to and
activate nervous system receptors on
the cilia.

This stimulus sends a signal to the

brain: neurons take the signal from the
nasal cavities through openings in the
ethmoid bone, and then to the
olfactory bulbs.

The signal then travels from the

olfactory bulbs, along cranial nerve 1,
to the olfactory area of the cerebral
cortex
The respiratory system, in close
conjunction with the circulatory
system, is responsible for supplying
all body cells with essential oxygen
and removing potentially harmful
carbon dioxide from the body.

The mouth and nose channel air from

outside the body through a system of
tubes of diminishing size that
eventually reach the two lungs
situated on either side of the heart
within the chest cavity.
Healthy lungs are
approximately
cone-shaped,
pinkish in color,
and occupy most of
the chest cavity.

Joining them is the

muscular trachea
that is reinforced
by roughly 20 rings
of cartilage and
lined with a
mucous
membrane.

[Link]
[Link]/learn/respiratory
/lower-respiratory-
system#lungs
Bronchial cast

By filling a lung’s airways with

a resin that hardens, a cast
such as this can be made of
the bronchial tree.

Each color indicates an

individual bronchopulmonary
segment aerated by a tertiary,
or segmental, bronchus.
ALVEOLI - The lungs’ microscopic air sacs,
alveoli, are elastic, thin-walled structures
arranged in clumps at the ends of respiratory
bronchioles.

They resemble bunches of grapes, although the

alveoli are partly merged with each other.

White blood cells known as macrophages

are always present on their inner surfaces,
where they ingest and destroy airborne
irritants such as bacteria, chemicals, and
dust.

Around the alveoli are networks of capillaries.

Oxygen passes from the air in the alveoli into the
blood by diffusion through the alveolar and
capillary walls

Carbon dioxide diffuses from blood into the

alveoli. There are more than 300 million
alveoli in both lungs, providing a huge
surface area for gas exchange – about 40
times greater than the body’s outer surface.
Supporting the alveoli

Alveoli are only 0.2mm ( 1/125 in) across

when fully inflated.

They should collapse inwards like deflated

balloons due to powerful surface tension in
their fluid lining.

Their collapse is prevented by a natural

substance with detergent-like properties
called surfactant.

It is produced by alveolar cells and consists

mainly of fatty substances, such as
cholesterol and phospholipids, and proteins.

Besides keeping alveoli inflated, it plays a

role in disabling bacteria which prevents
certain lung infections.
Without surfactant With surfactant

Molecules in the watery fluid lining Molecules of surfactant flow between

attract and cohere to each other, making the fluid molecules and reduce their
the alveolar wall pull inwards and cohesive forces, allowing the alveoli to
collapse. stay inflated.
Cellular respiration

Glucose (blood sugar) is the

body’s main energy source.

Cellular respiration occurs in

every body cell when oxygen
reacts with glucose to free its
energy in chemical form.

The end products are carbon

dioxide and water, which is
known as metabolic water and
amounts to about 300ml (10fl
oz) daily throughout the body.

The whole process is called

aerobic (oxygen-requiring)
cellular, or internal,
respiration.
THE
END