Gas Exchange

  • Why do we need a respiratory system
      * Need O2
        * Aerobic cellular respiration
        * Make ATP
      * Need CO2 out
        * Waste products from the Krebs cycle
  • Gas Exchange
      * O2 and CO2 exchange between environment and cells
        * Need moist membrane
        * Need high surface area
  • Optimizing Gas Exchange
      * High surface area
        * Maximizing rate of gas exchange
        * CO2 and O2 move across cell membrane by diffusion
          * Rate of diffusion is proportional to surface area
      * Moist Membranes
        * Moisture maintains cell membrane structure
        * Gases diffuse only dissolved in water
  • Evolution of Gas Exchange Structures
      * Aquatic organisms
        * External system with lots of surface area exposed to aquatic environment
      * Terrestrial
        * Moist internal respiratory tissues with lots of surface area
  • Counter Current Exchange System
      * Water carrying gas flows in one direction, blood flows in the opposite direction
  • Gas Exchange on Land
      * Advantages
        * Air has many advantages over water
          * Higher concentration of O2
          * O2 and CO2 diffuse much faster through air
            * Respiratory surfaces exposed to air do not have to be ventilates as thoroughly as gills
          * Air is much lighter than water and therefore much easier to pump
            * Expend less energy moving air in and out
      * Disadvantages
        * Keeping large respiratory surface moist causes high water loss
          * Reduce water loss by keeping lungs internal
  • Terrestrial Adaptations
      * Tracheae
        * Air tubes branching throughout the body
        * Gas exchanged by diffusion across moist cells lining terminal ends, not through open circulatory system
  • Alveoli
      * Gas exchange across thin epithelium of millions of alveoli
  • Negative Pressure Breathing
      * Breathing due to changing pressures in lungs
        * Air flows from higher pressure to lower pressure
        * Pulling air instead of pushing it
  • Mechanics of Breathing
      * Air enters nostrils
        * Filtered by hairs, warmed, and humidified
        * Sampled for odors
      * Pharynx → glottis → larynx (vocal cords) → tracheae (windpipe) → bronchi → bronchioles → air sacs (alveoli)
      * Epithelial lining covered by cilia and thin film of mucus
        * Mucus traps dust, pollen, and particulates
        * Beating cilia moves mucus upward to pharynx, where it is swallowed
  • Autonomic Breathing Control
      * Medulla sets rhythm and pons moderates it
        * Coordinate respiratory, cardiovascular systems and metabolic demands
      * Nerve sensors in walls of aorta and carotid arteries in the neck detect O2 and CO2 in blood
  • Medulla Monitors Blood
      * Monitors CO2 level of blood
        * Measures pH of blood and cerebrospinal fluid bathing the brain
        * If pH decreases then increase depth and rate of breathing and excess CO2 is eliminated in exhaled air
  • Breathing and Homeostasis
      * Homeostasis
        * Keeping the internal environment of the body balance
        * Need to balance O2 in and CO2 out
        * Need to balance energy production
      * Exercise
        * Breathe faster
          * Need more ATP
          * Bring in more O2 and remove more CO2
      * Disease
        * Poor lung and heart function
          * Breathe faster
            * Need to work harder to bring in O2 and remove CO2
  • Hemoglobin
      * Why use a carrier molecule
        * O2 is not soluble enough in water for animal needs
          * Blood alone could not provide enough O2 to animal cells
          * Hemocyanin in incest
            * Copper
          * Hemoglobin in vertebrates
            * Iron
      * Reversibly binds O2
        * Loading O2 at lungs or gills and unloading cells
  • Cooperatively in Hemoglobin
      * Binding O2
        * Binding O2 to first subunit causes shape change to other subunits
          * Conformational change
        * Increasing attraction to O2
      * Releasing O2
        * When first subunit release O2, causes shape change to other subunits
          * Conformational change
        * Lowers attraction to O2
  • O2 dissociation curve for hemoglobin
      * Drop in pH lowers affinity of Hb for O2
      * Active tissue lowers blood pH and induces Hb to release for O2
      * Increase in temperature lowers affinity of Hb for O2
      * Active muscle produces heat
  • Transporting CO2
      * Dissolved in blood plasma as bicarbonate ion
  • Releasing CO2 from blood and lungs
      * Lower CO2 pressure at lungs allow CO2 to diffuse out of blood into lungs
  • Adaptation for pregnancy
      * Mother and fetus exchange O2 and CO2 across placenta tissue
  • Fetal Hemoglobin
      * Fetal hemoglobin had greater attraction to O2 than hemoglobin
        * Low % O2 by time blood reaches placenta
        * Fetal hemoglobin must be able to bind O2 with greater attraction than maternal Hemoglobin