electrophrenic respiration

The Respiratory Sequence. The sequence of the respiration process begins as air enters the corridors of the nose or mouth, where it is warmed and moistened. The air then passes through the pharynx, larynx, and trachea and into the bronchi.



The bronchi branch in the lungs into smaller and smaller bronchioles, ending in clusters of tiny air sacs called alveoli; there are 750 million alveoli in the lungs. The blood flows through the lungs in the pulmonary circulation. Through the thin membrane of the network of capillaries around the alveoli, the air and the blood exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide molecules migrate from the erythrocytes in the capillaries through the porous membrane into the air in the alveoli, while the oxygen molecules cross from the air into the red blood cells.

The erythrocytes proceed through the circulatory system, carrying the oxygen in loose combination with hemoglobin and giving it up to the body cells that need it. In cellular respiration the blood cells release oxygen and pick up carbon dioxide. The lungs dispose of the carbon dioxide, left there by the red blood cells, in the process of breathing. With each breath, about one-sixth of the air in the lungs is exchanged for new air.

Breathing. The lungs inflate and deflate 16 to 20 times per minute in adults, 12 to 20 per minute in teenagers, 20 to 30 per minute in children 2 to 12 years old, and 30 to 50 per minute in newborns. Their elastic tissue allows them to expand and contract like a bellows worked by the diaphragm and the intercostal muscles. The diaphragm contracts, flattening itself downward, and thus enlarges the thoracic cavity. At the same time the ribs are pulled up and outward by the action of the narrow but powerful intercostal muscles that expand and contract the rib cage. As the chest expands, the air flows in. Exhalation occurs when the respiratory muscles relax and the chest returns automatically to its minimum size, expelling the air (see also lung).

Protective Respiratory Mechanisms. The lungs are constantly exposed to the surrounding atmosphere. Twenty times a minute, more or less, they take in a gaseous mixture, along with whatever foreign particles happen to be suspended in it and at whatever temperature it may be. To compensate, the lungs have some remarkable protective devices.



On its way through the nasal passage, the cold air from outside is preheated by a large supply of blood, which gives off warmth through the thin mucous membrane that lines the respiratory tract. This same mucous lining is always moist, and dry air picks up moisture as it passes.

Dust, soot, and bacteria are filtered out by a barrier of cilia, tiny hairlike processes that line the passageways of the respiratory tract. The cilia trap not only foreign particles but also mucus produced by the respiratory passages themselves. Since the movement of the cilia is always toward the outside, they move the interfering matter upward, away from the delicate lung tissues, so that it can be expectorated or swallowed. Particles that are too large for the cilia to dispose of usually stimulate a sneeze or a cough, which forcibly expels them. Sneezing and coughing are reflex acts in response to stimulation of nerve endings in the respiratory passages. The stimulus for a cough comes from the air passages in the throat; for a sneeze, from those in the nose.