Respiratory Systems

What is a respiratory system? How does it work?

What are the functions of respiratory systems?
What are the different respiratory strategies that animals
use?

Definitions
Respiration sequence of events that result in the
exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between
the external environment and the mitochondria
External respiration gas exchange at the
respiratory surface
Internal respiration gas exchange at the tissues
Mitochondrial respiration production of ATP via
oxidation of carbohydrates, amino acids, or fatty
acids. Oxygen is consumed and carbon dioxide is
produced

Mitochondrial respiration
Mitochondria
consume O2 to
produce ATP
Produce CO2 in
process
Organisms must
have mechanisms
to obtain O2 from
the environment
and get rid of CO2

Respiratory strategies of animals

Unicellular and small
multicellular
organisms rely on
diffusion for gas
exchange
Larger organisms
must rely/depend
on a combination of
bulk ( large ) flow
and diffusion for
gas exchange, i.e.,
they need a
respiratory system

Respiratory systems - physics

Diffusion
Diffusion is the movement
of molecules from a high
concentration to a low
concentration

Slow over long distances

Fast over short distances

Respiratory strategies of animals

Unicellular and small multicellular organisms rely on diffusion for gas
exchange
Larger organisms must rely on a combination of bulk flow and diffusion
for gas exchange, i.e., they need a respiratory system

Respiratory Strategies
Animals more than a few millimeters thick use
one of three respiratory strategies
Circulating the external medium through the body
Sponges, cnidarians

Diffusion of gases across the body surface

accompanied by circulatory transport
Cutaneous respiration
Most aquatic invertebrates, some amphibians, eggs of birds

Diffusion of gases across a specialized respiratory

surface accompanied by circulatory transport
Gills (evaginations) or lungs (invaginations)
Vertebrates

Circulating the external medium through the body

Parazoa and Cnidaria

Circulating the external medium through the body

Tracheal system
Series of narrow ( sempit ) tubes leading from surface to deep within body
Gases move in the tubes via a combination of diffusion and bulk flow

Cricket spiracle

Most animals have a circulatory system

Diffusion of gases across a specialized respiratory
surface accompanied by circulatory transport

O2

O2

External Respiratory
medium
surface

Circulatory
system

Tissue

Cutaneous respiration
Respiration through skin
Found in some aquatic invertebrates and a few vertebrates

Salamander

Annelid

Lake Titicaca frog

External gills
Gills originate as outpocketings (evaginations)
Advantages: high surface area
Disadvantages: easily damaged, not suitable in
air

Salamander
Polychaete

Internal gills
Advantages: High surface area
Disadvantages: not usually suitable in air

Lungs
Originate as infoldings (invaginations)
Advantages: High surface area, protected, suitable
for breathing air
Disadvantages: not suitable in water

Ventilation
The active movement of the respiratory medium (air or
water) across the respiratory surface
Ventilation of respiratory surfaces reduces the formation
of static boundary layers i.e. improves efficiency of gas
exchange
Types of ventilation
Nondirectional - medium flows past the respiratory
surface in an unpredictable pattern
Tidal - medium moves in and out
Unidirectional - medium enters the chamber at one
point and exits at another
Animals respond to changes in environmental oxygen
or metabolic demands by altering( mengubah ) the
rate or pattern of ventilation

Ventilation and Gas Exchange

Because of the different physical properties of air and
water, animals use different strategies depending on the
medium in which they live
Differences
[Oair] 30x greater than [Owater]
Water is more dense and viscous than air
Evaporation is only an issue for air breathers
Strategies
Unidirectional: most water-breathers
Tidal: air-breathers
Air filled tubes: insects

Ventilation and Gas Exchange in Water

Strategies
Circulate the external medium through an
internal cavity
Various strategies for ventilating internal and
external gills

Ventilation in water- invertebrates

Sponges and Cnidarians

Circulate the external medium through an internal cavity
In sponges flagella move water in through ostia and out
through the osculum
In cnidarians muscle contractions move water in and out
through the mouth

Molluscs
Two strategies for ventilating their gills and mantle cavity
Beating ( gerak ) of cilia on gills move water across the gills
unidirectionally
Blood flow is countercurrent
Snails and clams ( kerang )
Muscular contractions of the mantle propel ( mendorong )
water unidirectionally through the mantle cavity past the
gills
Blood flow is countercurrent
Cephalopods (squid)

Crustaceans
Barnacles (filter feeding) or small species (copepods) lack gills and
rely on diffusion
Shrimp, crabs, and lobsters, have gills derived from modified
appendages located within a branchial cavity
Movements of the gill bailer ( lembaran ) propels ( mendorong )
water out of the branchial chamber; the negative pressure sucks
water across the gills

copepod

Echinoderms sea stars, sea urchins, sea cucumbers

Most sea stars and sea

urchins use their tube feet
for gas exchange
Water is sucked in and
exits through the
madreporite
Sea stars also have
external gill-like structures
(respiratory papulae); cilia
move water over the
surface

Echinoderms, cont.
Brittle stars and sea
cucumbers have internal
invaginations
Brittle stars used cilia to
move water into bursae
( kantong )
Sea cucumbers use
muscular contractions of
the cloaca and the
respiratory tree to breathe
water tidally though the
anus

Jawless Fishes - Hagfish

Lamprey and hagfish have multiple pairs of gill sacs
Hagfish
A muscular pump (velum) propels water through the respiratory cavity
Water enters the median nostril!!!! and leaves through a gill opening
Flow is unidirectional
Blood flow is countercurrent

Ventilation - hagfish
Gills sacs are arranged for counter current flow

Water flow

Jawless Fishes - Lamprey

Lamprey
Ventilation is similar to that in hagfish when not feeding
When feeding the mouth is attached to a prey (parasitic)
Ventilation is tidal though the gill openings

Elasmobranchs sharks, skates and rays

Steps in ventilation
Expand the buccal cavity
Increased volume sucks fluid
into the buccal cavity via the
mouth and spiracles
Mouth and spiracles close
Muscles around the buccal
cavity contact forcing water
past the gills and out the
external gill slits

Blood flow is countercurrent

Teleost Fishes

Water flows in via the mouth, out via the opercular opening

Fish Gills
Fish gills are arranged for countercurrent flow

Ventilation and Gas Exchange in Air

Two major lineages have colonized terrestrial habitats
Vertebrates
Arthropods
Unidirectional ventilation of gills common in waterbreathing animals
Tidal ventilation of lungs common in air-breathing
animals

Ventilation in air
Molluscs

Insects
Spiders

Vertebrates

Ventilation terrestrial molluscs

The pulmonate molluscs lack gills (or have highly

reduced gills
Instead, mantle cavity is highly vascularized and acts as
a lung
Garden snails and terrestrial slugs are pulmonates
Pumping of the mantle cavity moves air in and out of
these lungs

Arthropods
Crustaceans (crabs, woodlice and sowbugs)
Chelicerates (spiders and scorpions)
Insects

Gift from Agnes Lacombe

Crustaceans
Terrestrial crabs
Respiratory structures and the processes of ventilation are
similar to marine relatives, but
Gills are stiff so they do not collapse in air
Branchial cavity is highly vascularized and acts as the
primary site of gas exchange
Movements of the gill bailer propels air in and out of the
branchial chamber
Terrestrial isopods (woodlice and sowbugs)
Have a thick layer of chitin on one side of the gill for support and
the other side is thin walled and used for gas exchange
Anterior gills contain air-filled tubules (pseudotrachea). Oxygen
diffuses down the pseudotrachea and dissolves in the interstitial
fluid

Chelicerates - Spiders and scorpions

Have four book lungs
Consists of 10-100 lamellae
Open to outside via
spiracles
Gases diffuse in and out
Some spiders also have a
tracheal system series of
air-filled tubes
Oxygen diffuses into the
trachea and dissolves in
the interstitial fluid before
diffusing into the tissues

Insects
Have an extensive tracheal system - series of air-filled tubes
Tracheoles terminating ends of tubes that are filled with
hemolymph
Oxygen dissolves in the hemolymph
Open to outside via spiracles
Gases diffuse in and out
High diffusion coefficient of oxygen in air allows oxygen to
diffuse through the tracheal system

Ventilation in insects
Some species can
expand and compress
the trachea
Changes in tracheal
volume cause changes
in pressure, which
causes air to flow
through the system

Images of insect trachea obtained

using X-ray synchrotron radiation

Aquatic insects

Most aquatic
insects
breathe air
Mosquito
larvae have
snorkel

Water beetle (Dytiscus)

Water beetles
carry scuba tanks
(air bubbles)

Air breathing vertebrates

Air breathing evolved in fishes
Aquatic habitats can become hypoxic
Under these conditions, the ability to breathe air
is a substantial benefit

Vertebrates

Fish
Amphibians
Reptiles
Birds
Mammals

Evolution of air breathing

Some fish use aquatic surface respiration
when hypoxic
Swim to the surface and ventilate gills with
water from the thin well-oxygenated water layer
near surface
Some fish can gulp air into mouth (buccal
cavity)
Buccal cavity highly vascularized for gas
exchange

Fish
Air breathing has evolved multiple times in fishes
Types of respiratory structures

Reinforced gills that do not collapse in air

Mouth or pharyngeal cavity for gas exchange (highly vascularized)
Vascularized stomach
Specialized pockets of the gut
Lungs

Ventilation is tidal using buccal force similar to other fish

Amphibians - ventilation

Amphibians
have simple
sac-like lungs
Form as
outpocketings
of the gut

Amphibians
Types of respiratory structures
Cutaneous respiration
External gills
Simple bilobed lungs; more complex in terrestrial frogs
and toads

Amphibians external gills

Polychaete

Salamander

Advantages: high
surface area, exposed
to medium
Disadvantages: easily
damaged, not suitable
in air

Amphibians

Reptiles
* Most have two lungs; in snakes one lung is reduced or
absent
* Can be simple sacs with honeycombed walls or highly
divided chambers in more active species
More divisions result in more surface area
Ventilation
Tidal
Rely on suction pumps
Results in the separation of feeding and respiratory
muscles
Two phases: inspiration and expiration
Use one of several mechanisms to change the volume of
the chest cavity

Reptiles: mechanisms to change the volume

Snakes and lizards: use intercostal muscles.
Contraction of the intercostals moves the ribs
forward
and outward, increasing the volume
Turtles and tortoises: Use abdominal muscles that
expand and compress the lungs
Crocodilians: Hepatic septum is attached to the anterior
side of the liver. Paired diaphramaticus
muscles run
from the hepatic septum to the pelvic
girdle.
Diaphramaticus muscles contract which
decreases the
volume in the abdominal cavity and increases the
volume of the lungs. As a result
pressure in the
lungs decreases

Reptiles

Ventilation in birds and mammals

Birds

Lung is stiff and

changes little in
volume
Rely on a series of
flexible air sacs
Gas exchange
occurs at
parabronchi

Bird lungs crosscurrent flow

Oxygen extraction efficiency high (up to 90%)

Bird Ventilation
Requires two cycles of inhalation and
exhalation
Air flow across the respiratory surfaces is
unidirectional

Bird Ventilation

Mammals
Two main parts
Upper respiratory tract: mouth, nasal cavity, pharynx,
trachea
Lower respiratory tract: bronchi and lungs
Alveoli are the site of gas exchange
Both lungs are surrounded by a pleural sac

Mammalian lungs

Mammalian lungs - alveoli

Type I cells
gas exchange
Type II cells
surfactant
secretion

Mammalian lungs

Airways:
Larynx
Trachea
Bronchii
Bronchioles
Alveoli

Mammal Ventilation
Steps
Inhalation

Somatic motor neuron innervation

Contraction of the external intercostals and the diaphragm
Ribs move outwards and the diaphragm moves down
Volume of thorax increases
Air is pulled in

Exhalation

Innervation stops
Muscle relax
Ribs and diaphragm return to their original positions
Volume of the thorax decreases
Air is pushed out via elastic recoil of the lungs

During rapid and heavy breathing, exhalation is active

via contraction of the internal intercostal muscles

Mammals

Mammalian lungs - ventilation

Air moves into and out of

the lungs along pressure
gradients that are the result
of volume changes

Dead Space
Tidal volume total volume of air
moved in one ventilatory cycle
Dead space air that does not
participate in gas exchange
Two components
Anatomical dead space
volume of the trachea and
bronchi
Alveolar dead space
volume of any alveoli that is
not being perfused with
blood

Spirometry

Method for measuring pulmonary function

Gas transport

Diffusion

Bulk flow
Ventilation

Bulk flow
Circulation
Diffusion

Respiratory pigments
Respiratory pigments help to increase the amount of O2 in
blood
Oxygen-binding molecules
Contain metal ions
Gives them a strong colour (e.g. hemoglobin red)
Oxygen binds reversibly to the metal ion
Bind to the pigment at the lungs
Releases from the pigment at the tissues

Types of respiratory pigment

Hemoglobin - vertebrates,
nematodes, some annelids, some
crustaceans, some insects
Hemerythrin - sipunculids, priapulids,
brachiopods, and one family of
annelids
Hemocyanin - arthropods and
molluscs

Respiratory Pigments
Metalloproteins are referred to as respiratory pigments
Three major types
Hemoglobins

Most common
Vertebrates, nematodes, some annelids, crustaceans, and
insects
Consist of a protein globin bound to a heme molecule
containing iron
Usually located within blood cells
Appears red when oxygenated
Myoglobin is a type of hemoglobin found in muscles

Hemocyanins

Arthropods and molluscs

Contain copper
Usually dissolved in the hemolymph
Appears blue when oxygenated

Hemerythrins

Sipunculids, priapulids, brachiopods, some annelids

Contains iron directly bound to the protein
Usually found inside coelomic cells
Appears violet-pink when oxygenated

Hemoglobin
Vertebrate hemoglobins are tetramers
Two alpha chains
Two beta chains
Each contains a heme group
Each heme group can bind 1 molecule of oxygen
Therefore 1 Hb molecule can bind 4 oxygen molecules

Myoglobin (Mb)

Type of hemoglobin
found in vertebrate
muscle
Monomer
Each Mb molecule
binds one molecule
of oxygen

Hemocyanin
Arthropods & molluscs
Contain copper instead of iron
Copper is complexed directly to amino acids in the
protein
Multimeric (up to 48 subunits)
Blue when oxygenated

Hemerythrins
Sipunculids, priapulids, brachiopods, and one family of
annelids
Do NOT contain heme
Iron is bound directly to amino acids in the protein
subunits (usually 2 iron molecules per subunit)
Molecules are usually trimeric or octomeric
Very pretty violet colour when oxygenated, colorless
when deoxygenated

Swim bladder
Fish
Many bony fish have a swimbladder that helps
to maintain neutral buoyancy
Gas-filled sac
Fill with gas to increase buoyancy
Remove gas to reduce buoyancy
In most species this gas is oxygen

Swim bladder
Gas gland excretes lactic
acid
Acidity causes hemoglobin
of
the blood to lose its
oxygen
Oxygen diffuses into the
bladder while flowing
through a complex structure
known as the rete mirabile

Carbon Dioxide Transport

Carbon dioxide is more soluble in body fluids
than oxygen
However, little CO2 is transported in the plasma
Some CO2 binds to proteins
(carbaminohemoglobin)
Most CO2 is transported as bicarbonate
CO2 + H2O H2CO3 (carbonic acid) HCO3(bicarbonate) + H+
Carbonic anhydrase catalyzes the formation of
HCO3-

Vertebrate Red Blood Cells and CO2 Transport

Carbonic anhydrase is located within RBCs

Reactions to synthesize HCO3- occur in the
RBCs even though most of this HCO3- is carried
in the plasma

Carbon dioxide transport at tissues

CO2 is produced by aerobic metabolism

Rapidly diffuses out of tissues and into red cell
Carbonic anhydrase catalyzes formation of bicarbonate
the H+ formed by this reaction binds to Hb
the bicarbonate ions are moved out the the RBC by a transporter protein
(band III)
Bicarbonate does not readily diffuse through membranes
if it were not removed, build up within red
cell would inhibit CA reaction
Band III exchanges HCO3- for Cl- (Chloride shift)

Carbon dioxide transport at respiratory surface

PCO2 of air/water is lower than blood
CO2 diffuses out of plasma across respiratory
surface
CO2 diffuses out of RBC into plasma
Equilibrium of CO2-bicarbonate reaction is shifted
Bicarbonate ions move from plasma into RBCs
(reverse-chloride shift)
Bicarbonate and H+ from carbonic acid and then
CO2
CO2 diffuses out of RBC into plasma and
then across respiratory surface

Have a great day