Saturday, December 13, 2025

Mechanism of Respiration

 

The Complete process of respiration Can be explained under following headings:

* Breathing or pulmonary ventilation

* Exchange of gases in alveolie

* Transport of oxygen

* Exchange of gases in Cells (at Cellular level)

* Transport of Carbon dioxide

*  Release of Carbon dioxide in alveolie.

Intercoastal muscles: are muscles lying in between Ribs. 11 pairs of Intercoastal muscles are present in between 12 Pairs of Ribs and are of two types ; External intercoastal or Inspiratory muscles and Internal intercoastal or expiratory muscles.

when EICM contracts the IICM relaxes and Ribs move upward and outward which increases size of thoracic Cavity and inspiration occurs.

When IICM Contracts the EICM relaxes and ribs move downward and inward which decreases size of thoracic Cavity and expiration occurs.

*Breathing or pulmonary ventilation: is the process of intake of atmospheric air up to lungs and through out of air from lungs to atmosphere. It Consists of inspiration and expiration.

Inspiration: It is the process by which atmospheric air reaches up to lungs. During it;

- Inspiratory muscles or EICM Contracts while IICM relaxes

- Ribs move upward and outward.

- Diaphragm Contracts

- size of thoracic Cavity increases and size of lungs also increases

-          Air pressure inside lungs decreases and atmospheric air Comes into lungs through respiratory tract.

This Completes inspiration.

Expiration: It is the process by which air in lungs Passes out to atmosphere. During it;

- Expiratory muscles or IICM Contracts while EICM relaxes

- Ribs move downward and inward

- Diaphragm relaxes & become dome Shaped

- size of thoracic Cavity decreases and size of lungs also decreases.

- Air pressure inside lungs increases and air in lungs passes out to atmosphere through respiratory tract.

This Completes expiration.

* Exchange of gases in alveolie: In alveolie exchange of gases takes place by the process of diffusion. The inspired air ultimately reaches into alveolie of lungs and exchange of gases takes place between the air in alveolie and the blood in the Capillaries around the alveolie.  During this exchange the oxygen of the inspired air passes into blood and Carbondioxide in blood is released into alveolie. these respiratory gases move freely by diffusion which takes place from higher concentration to lower Concentration. The process of diffusion is directly proportional to the partial pressure of gas and solubility of the gas. During diffusion gas has to pass through respiratory membrane.



The Partial pressure of oxygen ( PO2 ) in alveolie is higher (100mm Hg) than that in the deoxygenated blood in the Capillaries of pulmonary artery(40mm Hg). Thus, the movement of oxygen is from alveolie to blood.

The partial pressure of Carbondioxide (PCO2) is higher in deoxygenated blood in the Capillaries of pulmonary artery (46mm Hg) than in alveolie (40mm Hg). Thus, the movement of Carbondioxide is from blood to the alveolie.

* Transport of oxygen: The oxygen is transported from alveolie up to cellular level in two ways :

As dissolve oxygen: About (1-3)% O2 is transported as dissolved oxygen. the oxygen dissolves in water of plasma.

As oxyhaemoglobin: About (97-99)% O2 is transported as oxyhaemoglobin (Hb.02). The oxygen combines with haemoglobin (Hb) to form oxyhaemoglobin.

Haemoglobin:

Hb is iron containing pigment in RBC and is Called respiratory pigment.

Hb Contains globin (protein) and heme group (iron) part.

The globin part is 95% part and Consists of four polypeptide Chains ; two alpha chains and two beta chains. These polypeptide Chain ( Chains of aminoacids linked by peptide bond ) are linked by disulphide bond.

The  heme group  is 5% part and Consists of Four heme group each attached with each polypeptide Chain. Each heme group Consists of tetrapyrrole ring (or porphyrine ring) with Fe++ (Ferrous iron) at Centre.

Each iron can get attached with one molecule of oxygen. Thus, Each Hb Can Carry up to 4 molecules of Oxygen.

In adult, about (12-16) gm Hb is present in 100 ml of blood. Each gm Hb Carries about 1.34 ml of oxygen. Thus, About 20 ml oxygen is carried by 100 ml of blood.   

*Exchange of gases at Cells: The oxygenated blood is carried from the blood capillaries of alveolie to heart by pulmonary veins and heart distributes this oxygenated blood to Various body parts through arteries. these arteries divides to form arterioles Which further divide to form Capillaries. the exchange of oxygen and Carbondioxide between tissue blood Capillaries and tissue Cells take place by diffusion and is Called internal respiration.

when oxyhaemoglobin reaches at  tissue level, the oxyhaemoglobin dissociates to release oxygen. The rate of dissociation depends upon nature of the Cell. If the Cell is metabolically active , the rate of dissociation become high. In metabolically active Cell, PCO2 is high while PO2 is low and temperature of the Cell is also higher.

The partial pressure of oxygen is higher (95 mm Hg) in blood capillaries than that of body cells(40 mm Hg) and the Partial pressure of Carbon dioxide is lesser ( 40mm Hg) in blood Capillaries than that of body cells (46 mm Hg). Therefore, oxygen diffuses from Capillary blood to cells through tissue fluids and Carbondioxide diffuses from the body Cells to the Capillary blood via tissue fluid. Now, the blood become deoxygenated.

* Transport of Carbon dioxide: Carbon dioxide is transported from tissues to lungs by blood. Both plasma and haemoglobin transports Carbon dioxide. In 100 ml of arterial blood about 48ml CO2 is present while in venous blood 52ml CO2 is present. Thus, 100ml blood receives about 4mI of Carbon dioxide from tissue and gives to alveolie. The Carbondioxide is transported In three ways:

As Carbonic acid: About 7% Carbon dioxide is transported as Carbonic acid which is formed by dissolution of  C02 in Water. Each 100 ml of blood transfers about 0.28ml of C02 in dissolved form.

As carbaminohaemoglobin: About 23% Carbon dioxide ( About 0.92ml CO2 is transferred by  100ml of blood as carbaminohaemoglobin) is transported as Carbaminohaemoglobin which is formed by reversible Combination of Carbondioxide with amino group of globin part of haemoglobin.

Hb. NH2 + CO2 → Hb.NHCOOH

As bicarbonates of sodium and potassium: About 70% Carbon dioxide( about 2.8ml) is transported as bicarbonates of Sodium and potassium. The CO2 enters inside RBC where it Combines with Water to form Carbonic acid in presence of enzyme Carbonic anhydrase which acts as Catalyst. In presence of Same enzyme Carbonic anhydrase, the Carbonic acid dissociates to form hydrogen ion and bicarbonate ion. most of the bicarbonate ions diffuses into plasma. TO maintain electroneutrality , equal amount of Chloride ions diffuses into RBC from plasma. This exchange of bicarbonate ions of RBC and Chloride ions of plasma is Called Chloride shift or Hamberger effect.

The bicarbonate ions in plasma combines with sodium and potassium ions in plasma to form bicarbonates of sodium and potassium.

* Release of Carbon dioxide in alveolie: when Compounds with Carbon dioxide like Carbonic acid, Carbamino compound of haemoglobin and bicarbonates of sodium and potassium reaches at alveolie where PO2 is high these Compounds dissociates to release CO2.

H2CO3 → H20 + CO2

Hb.NHCOOH → Hb.NH2 + CO2

2NaHC03 → Na2C03 + H20 + 2CO2

2KHCO3→ K2C03 + H20 + 2CO2



* percentage saturation of Hb: The amount of 02 Carried by Hb at a particular time is called percentage Saturation of blood. It depends upon pO2, PCO2, PH, temperature and

2,3 BPG ( 2,3 Biphosphoglycerate).

* oxygen dissociation curve: when  a graph is plotted between PO2 and percentage saturation of blood a curve is obtained Called Oxygen dissociation curve. It is sigmoid.

 



Factors affecting oxygen dissociation curve: po2 , pco2, pH , H+ ions , temperature and 2,3 BPG( Biphosphoglycerate) affect oxygen dissociation curve.

The oxygen dissociation curve get shifted towards right when PO2 decreases, PCO2 increases, pH decreases or H+ ions increases, temperature Increases and 2,3 BPG increases while get Shifted towards left when po2 increases , PCO2 decreases, PH increases or H+ ions decreases, temperature decreases and 2,3 BPG decreases.

*Bohr's effect: when pCO2 increases and PH decreases the Oxygen dissociation curve get shifted towards right i.e. the Oxygen Carrying or binding Capacity of Hb decreases. it is of great importance at tissue level for the dissociation of Oxyhaemoglobin to release oxygen.

 * Haldane effect: When Po2 increases and PH increases the C02 carrying Capacity of blood decreases. It occurs at alveolie to release CO2. Due to it, the oxygen dissociation Curve get shifted towards left.

      P50 value of Hb: It is the value of PO2 at which Hb is 50% saturated. It is 27mmHg. At this 100ml blood carries 10ml of blood.

      Myoglobin is pigment (protein) present in skeletal muscles. It combines with one molecule of O2. Its P50 value is 3mmHg.it means myoglobin has high affinity with oxygen and combines with oxygen even Po2 is very low. It is store house of O2 in muscles. Its dissociation curve is hyperbolic.

      CO poisoning: Hb has 250 times more affinity with Carbon monoxide than that with O2. Thus, CO combines with Hb to form carboxyhaemoglobin and blocks Hb from carrying O2 effectively to cells. High level of CO causes headache, dizziness and may leads to death.

      Rate of respiration: No. of respiratory cycles in a minute is called respiratory cycle. Each respiratory cycle consists of one inspiration and one expiration. So, it is number of inspiration or expiration in a minute. It is 12-16 times per minute.

      Respiratory quotient(RQ): The ratio of amount of CO2 produced with amount of  O2 consumed is called Respiratory quotient. It is 1 for Carbohydrate, 0.8 for protein and 0.7 for fat. For anaerobic respiration it is 0 as no O2 is consumed.