Pulmonary System: The Respiratory System

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RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
The respiratory system allows O2 and CO2 to be exchanged between the atmosphere and blood. Cellular respiration is not considered in this section.
Pulmonary Ventilation
The lungs are attached to the inner surface of the chest (thorax) wall via pleural membranes. This means that when the thorax and diaphragm move, the lungs move with them.
Within the lungs, the respiratory surface where gaseous exchange takes place is in the alveoli which have a total surface area of around 100m2, giving a large surface for diffusion. The alveolar wall is a single cell thick and surrounded by a dense bed of capillaries whose walls are also a single cell thick. The alveoli are kept moist to aid diffusion.
Inspiration
• The chest expands under …show more content…

Food is actively pushed down the tube by involuntary muscular movements known as peristalis.
• The esophagus terminates at the stomach which is an expandable enlargement of the gastro-intestinal tract. The stomach mixes the food into a liquid called chyme and controls the release of food into the duodenum via the pyloric sphincter.
• The small intestine is around 6½m long and is where the majority of digestion and absorption takes place. The surface area available for absorption is vastly increased by three layers of folding of the surface mucosa. It can considered as three sections: o The duodenum is where most digestion takes places due to the inclusion of secretions from the pancreas (pancreatic juice) and gall bladder (bile). o The jejunum and ileum are where the final stages of digestion and almost all absorption takes place.
• The large intestine is where the last stages of digestion and absorption take place. Bacteria produce some of the B vitamins and vitamin K; water, some ions and vitamins are absorbed and the chyme is turned in faeces.
Physiology of Digestion & …show more content…

Two examples below demonstrate how this movement occurs.
As described in the section considering pulmonary respiration, O2 and CO2 move between the blood and air in the lungs from a network of capillaries surrounding the alveoli. The very thin walls of the capillaries and large surface area created by the volume of capillaries surrounding the alveoli ensures that an effective mechanism for gas exchange is available.
Energy from food enters the blood stream either directly via epithelial cells lining the small intestine, or via the lymphatic system. At the tissue end, glucose crosses from capillaries to tissue fluid and then cell membranes by active transport. All cells require energy and this is provided by cellular respiration which turns glucose into adenosine triphosphate (ATP) which is the chemical that cellular processes use to provide energy. The diagram (Cellular Respiration I) shows the inputs and outputs of aerobic respiration within the mitochondria which require constant replenishment of O2 and glucose – plus removal of waste products such as CO2 – by the circulation of

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