CINDY CAGAS

LDCU – SHS
STEM FACULTY
 How do gas exchange
systems facilitate the
exchange of gases
between the environment
and the cells of
organisms?
 Transport, Exchange, and Defense Systems
Share a common pathway in the

Blood

Circulatory Respiratory Immune

System System System

Transport of gases Gaseous exchange Nonspecific and

and Nutrients Specific Defense
Mechanisms
Capillaries
Temperature and pH
regulation
Alveoli
• Almost all organisms in the planet need Oxygen
to survive.
• Oxygen comes from the atmosphere, which
contains a mixture of gases that blankets the
planet.
21% - Oxygen
78% - Nitrogen
About 1% - Carbon Dioxide
Minute proportions of other gases.
GAS EXCHANGE
IN ANIMALS
RESPIRATION
•One of the major physiological
challenges of multicellular
animals
•A process of obtaining of oxygen
and expelling excessive amounts
of Carbon Dioxide
•Gas exchange requires an aqueous
environment.
•Cells are in stable condition because its
plasma membrane is surrounded by water
molecules.
FOUR MAJOR TYPES OF GAS
EXCHANGE IN ANIMALS:
• BODY SURFACE
• GILLS
• TRACHEAE
• LUNGS

 VENTILATION – the process involved in the bringing

of oxygenated water or air into contact with respiratory
organs
INVERTEBRATES
•Cnidarians, Sponges and Worms
•Easily exchange oxygen and carbon
dioxide by diffusion in their skin.
•Integumentary Exchange or Cutaneous
Respiration
Amphibians
•In addition to using their lungs, breathe
through their skin as a gas exchange
surface – they have to be moist all the
time.
•Oxygen diffuses into a dense net of thin-
walled capillaries beneath their skin –
allows them to spend prolonged time
underwater.
ARTHROPODS
• Have a tracheal system that consists of branched internal tubes
that extend throughout the body.

Spiracles – tiny openings on the surface of the insects body.

Tracheae – sturdy tubes arising from the spiracles.

• The tracheae branch off further into smaller tubes called

Tracheoles that can become smaller enough, with tips that
reach all its cells. The tips of the tracheoles are filled with small
amounts of an aqueous substance where oxygen can be
dissolved from air whereas carbon dioxide diffuses in the
opposite direction.
•Found in more advanced marine
invertebrates and vertebrates
•Are thin sheets of tissue that
waves through the water,
increasing the surface area
available for diffusion.
Marine Invertebrates
• Example: Mollusks and Echinoderms
- have external gills that are often in the form of extensive
projections.
• Gills are highly folded, thin-walled vascularized epidermis that
projects outward of the organism’s body.
• Organisms that use this gas exchange mechanism
ventilate by waving these gills back and forth through
the water, an action that is important for sessile
invertebrates that rely on water currents for ventilation.
• Limitations:
- they are susceptible to damage from the environment
as they are exposed
- A considerable amount of energy is needed to move
them continually through the water
- Their appearance and motion makes the animal
susceptible to predators by drawing attention to it.
Fishes
•Have a set of feather-like internal gills found
on each side of its head that flap open and
close with the exchange of gases.
•Gills are covered by a bony plate called
OPERCULUM.
•LAMELLAE - gill arches that contain gill
filaments composed of numerous platelike
structure.
•Dissolved oxygen from the water that enters
the mouth diffuses across its gill surfaces
into the capillaries
•With carbon dioxide diffusing in the opposite
direction to the outside environment. This
mechanism is called COUNTERCURRENT
EXCHANGE, which is highly efficient in
extracting oxygen dissolved in water where
oxygen content is lower than in air.
Different fishes can ventilate in three
possible ways:
•Actively drawing water in through their
mouth and out of their operculum
•Swimming while their mouth is open so
that water can continuously flow across
the gills
•Resting near a water current while
keeping their mouth open.
•Higher forms of terrestrial vertebrates
have evolved lungs that are internally
lined with moist epithelium.
•Air breathing vertebrates have their
lungs located inside the chest or thoracic
cavity, and are protected by the rib cage.
Amphibians and Reptiles
•Amphibian lungs are designed as a sac
with convoluted internal membrane that
opens up to a certain cavity.
•Reptiles, being more active than
amphibians, cannot rely on their skin to
breathe and evolve dry, scaly skin that is
watertight to avoid moisture loss.
Birds
•Have a different level of activity and
metabolic needs due to their flight
abilities.
•Have a respiratory demand for greater
than the capacity of the lungs of an
active mammal.
•Avian lung has evolved into three
components
- a series of air sacs outside of the
lungs called Posterior and Anterior
air sacs, and the air passageways
through the lungs known as
PARABRONCHI.
•During exhalation, the air flows from the
posterior air sacs in front of the lungs and to
the lungs themselves, then on to another air
sacs and out of its body.
•This complicated pathway has the
advantage of creating a unidirectional
airflow through the lungs. It means that there
is no dead volume; that the air passing
across the bird’s lungs is always fully
oxygenated and blood flow is a 90-degree
angle called cross-current flow.
•While fish are the most
efficient aquatic organisms in
terms of their gills, birds have
evolved to have the most
efficient atmospheric gas
exchange mechanisms.
MAMMALS
•Use their lungs to obtain oxygen and expel
carbon dioxide by receiving deoxygenated
blood from the heart and returning
oxygenated blood to the heart.
•Although less efficient than that of birds,
mammals are well adapted to terrestrial
environments.
•In order for gas exchange to happen,
respiratory surfaces must be moist, and
with a large surface area and protected
from drying.

•Have you experienced the popping of

your ears when the plane descends
during a flight? Then you have
experienced air pressure in your ears.
•Air pressure is measured in millimeters
of mercury (mmHg), which is similar to
blood pressure.
•At sea level, the atmospheric pressure is
760 mmHg and it decreases as you
ascend to high elevations because there
are a few gas molecules in a given
volume of air.
Atmospheric Pressure
• Refers to the sum total of the exerted pressures by each
gas mixed in the air, corresponding to the exact
proportion of their amounts.
• Each individual gas pressure is called PARTIAL
PRESSURE (symbolized as P) and a subscript of the
gas.

PO2 = (0.21 x 760 mmHg)

= 160 mmHg
•Although the percentage of oxygen and
other gases in the air is constant regardless
of altitude, the lower the atmospheric
pressure is, the lower the partial pressure of
oxygen in the air.
•All gases diffuse from an
area of higher pressure to a
region of lower pressure.
•The direction of diffusion is
driven by the concentration
difference in pressure
gradients.
•The rate of diffusion between these two
regions can be studied in a relationship
known as Fick’s Law of Diffusion.
•Fick’s Law of Diffusion states that the
diffusion rate is affected by the concentration
difference and surface of the membrane
area.
•Aside from pressure, temperature, the
presence of other solutes influence the
solubility of gases.
Adolf Eugen Fick
• German Physician and Physiologist
• Fick recognized early on that diffusion
was one of the most essential events
within the living organism.
• With his proclivity toward mathematics
and ultimately on the basis of an
awakening knowledge of molecular
physics, Fick concluded that “the
distribution of a compound dissolved in
a solvent takes place in the same way
as warmth is distributed within a
conductive material (Fourier's Law).”
In terms of Temperature:
• More gas can dissolve in a given volume of cold water than
in warm water.

• At higher temperature there is more thermal energy present

in gases in solution that can likely drive them to escape
from the liquid.

• The presence of ions and other solutes also decreases the

amount of gas dissolved in water.

• Oxygen dissolves less in warm, salty water than cold water.

Through the presence of oxygen-binding
proteins, the total amount of oxygen can
be increased in cells.

•Hemolymph – invertebrates
•Red blood cells – vertebrates
• Hemolymph –
hemocyanin
• – the Copper-
containing
pigment that
gives blood a
bluish tint.
•Red blood cells –
hemoglobin –
major Iron-
containing
pigment that
gives blood its
red color when
oxygenated.
•Each hemoglobin contains four polypeptide
subunits, each containing an iron atom
bounded by an oxygen molecule.
•Therefore a single hemoglobin can contain
up to 4 molecules of oxygen.
•The oxygen’s binding is reversible, which is
necessary so that oxygen can be unloaded
when it reaches the tissues.
•Hemoglobin in red blood cells circulates in
the bloodstream like a ship bringing its
cargo.
Steps in respiratory cycle:
1. Oxygen binds to hemoglobin as the cells pass through the
capillaries of the lung’s alveoli.
2. Oxygen bearing hemoglobin releases oxygen at different
parts of the body.
3. While RBC’s are unloading oxygen, they are also absorbing
carbon dioxide from the tissue.
4. Carbon dioxide is converted to carbonic acid in the red
blood cells by an enzyme known as carbonic anhydrase, and
then dissociates into Hydrogen (H+ ) and bicarbonate (HCO3-)
ions.
5. The hydrogen ions bind to hemoglobin, and
bicarbonate is transported out of the red blood
cells.
6. Oxygen-poor blood is carried back to the heart
and pumped into the lungs.
7. In the lungs, carbon dioxide diffuses outward
from the blood into the alveoli. The diffusion of
carbon dioxide out of the red blood cells causes
hemoglobin within the cells to release the CO2 and
take up oxygen instead. in this step, the red blood
cells with a new load of Oxygen will start the
respiratory cycle again.
Objective
•To be able to identify the task of the
Respiratory System in the body.
•To be able to identify the phases of
gas exchange in animals and
humans and the processes
happening in each phase.
=
•Each body cell burns up the food it gets
from the blood and releases energy
locked within the food only if it gets
enough oxygen.
•The energy-releasing process that is
fueled by oxygen is called Cellular
Respiration.
- Carbon Dioxide is also produced
during respiration.
•The body system that
is responsible for
performing the task of
getting oxygen into
the body and
removing carbon
dioxide out of the
body is the
Respiratory System.
•Gas Exchange in animals and
humans happen in several
phases :
-Breathing
-Transport of gases by the
circulatory system
-Exchange of gases in cells.
• Breathing and Respiration are related processes, BUT
they are not the same.

• Respiration – is the overall exchange of gases (how it

gets Oxygen and gets rid of Carbon Dioxide) between
the atmosphere, the blood, and the cells.

• Breathing – refers to the act of taking air in and out of

the lungs.
- it is the physical action of taking in oxygen
into and releasing the waste carbon dioxide out of the
lungs.
Breathing mechanisms also exist
differently among vertebrates
• Amphibians
- ventilate their lungs by positive pressure breathing that
forces air down their trachea.
• Birds
- use a system of air sacs as blowers to keep air flowing in
one direction.
• Mammals ( Humans)
- ventilate by negative pressure breathing, pulling the air
into the lungs with the aid of diaphragm contraction and
expansion of rib muscles.
Mammalian Respiratory System
•Consists of the
lungs and
various
passageways
that allow the air
to reach the
lungs
First phase of Gas Exchange
1. Before the air reaches the
lungs during breathing, inhaled
air must first be filtered out and
moistened through the nostrils
where coarse hairs coated with
mucus trap dusts and other
particles that may damage your
lung tissue.
2. The processed air now moves
through a muscular tube in your
upper throat known as the
PHARYNX that soon divides into the
passageways for food and water.
One passageway leads to the
digestive system while the other
leads air into the LARYNX or VOICE
BOX . Here a flap of cartilage,
known as EPIGLOTTIS , directs the
air down the respiratory path while
food and water are directed to the
digestive tract.
3. A tube-like structure, that is
made up of flexible rings of cartilage
called TRACHEA or WINDPIPE
connects the larynx to the lungs.
Here, the mucus lining traps dust
particles and bacteria that have
passed the nose.

4. The filtered air now travels to the

main organs of the respiratory
system

• The diaphragm is a powerful

muscle that aids in breathing
Second Phase of Gas Exchange
• Happens with the help of Circulatory System

1. The Oxygen diffuses into the blood and attaches

itself to the hemoglobin present in the blood.

2. The blood vessels help transport oxygen-rich

blood from the lungs to the capillaries of the body
tissues and vice versa.
Third Phase of Gas Exchange
• Known as the INTERNAL RESPIRATION ,
involves the body cells that take up oxygen from
the blood and release carbon dioxide to the
blood.
• It is responsible for bringing oxygen from your
lungs to all other tissues in your body and taking
out carbon dioxide from the tissues back to your
lungs as a waste product.
Inside the Lungs
• The air reaches where the trachea
branches into two tubes called the left
and right bronchi (Singular:
BRONCHUS)
• They continue to divide into narrower
and narrower passage until they
become tiny tubes the size of twigs
called BRONCHIOLES .
• At the end of these tiny tubes are
hundreds of grapelike air sacs called
the ALVEOLI that inflate during
inhalation and deflate during
exhalation.
•As the walls of the alveoli
and the blood vessel shared
a fused basement, oxygen
and carbon dioxide can easily
diffuse into the respiratory
system and the bloodstream.
•Due to this, oxygen can
easily seep into thin walls of
the alveoli.
•As blood slowly moves into
the capillaries, it picks up
oxygen and carries it to the
cells throughout the body.
•Blood picks up carbon
dioxide produced by the cells
during respiration and returns
it to the alveoli out of the
body during the next
exhalation.
•Plants do the reverse of
respiration by taking in carbon
dioxide and expelling out oxygen
through the process of
photosynthesis.
•LEAVES – primary organ
involved in photosynthesis.
•IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE AS
WELL THAT PLANTS RESPIRE
CONSTANTLY TOO, AND THAT IT
MUST ALSO ABSORB OXYGEN
AND GIVE OFF CARBON
DIOXIDE.
During the day…
•Both respiration and
photosynthesis occur
simultaneously in the
leaf.
•The leaf surface is
covered by a thin
waterproof coating also
known as the CUTICLE.
•In order for the
exchange of gases to
happen, the cuticle is
perforated with pores
also known as
STOMATA.
STOMATA •Each of the stoma
contains a pore at the
center surrounded by
two bean-shaped cells,
called GUARD CELLS ,
that control the
exchange of gases and
prevent the plant from
losing too much water.
•The exchange of gases in plants takes place
mainly in the stomata of the leaves and the
young stems.
•When the stomata are open, the exchange of
gases could take place between the atmosphere
and the interior of the leaf.
•The leaf cells, which are mostly close to each
other, have moist surfaces that permit the
gaseous exchange through the process of
diffusion.
During the process of Photosynthesis
1. Oxygen is released into the intracellular air space
where cells can be reused for respiration.
2. Carbon Dioxide, on the other hand, is released by
respiring leaf cells and enters the intracellular air
space where it can easily be used by cells for
photosynthesis.

* More oxygen gets inside the cells from the external

environment via stomata, whereas excess carbon dioxide
exits through the same route.
•Plants that have either a flexible
stem or a thick, old woody stem,
such as hard wood trees, contain
small pores.
•The flexible stems of grasses and
other non-woody plants also contain
stomata.
STEMS • In woody stems…
- a layer of waterproof
cork tissue develops
beneath the epidermal
layer of the stems.
 the layer is waterproof
and lined with
parenchyma cells, called
LENTICELS – tiny
openings in the stem.
Inside the Plant…
•The oxygen dissolves water from the moist
cell membrane and then diffuses across the
cell membrane into the cell.
•Carbon Dioxide follows in the opposite
direction, diffusing from the cell membrane,
into the cellular air space, and out into the
atmosphere via the openings.
 Plants also
respire through
their roots.
 ROOTS
•Covered by tiny
outgrowths, called ROOT
HAIRS – increase the
surface absorptive
capacity of the roots ad
provide a moist surface
area for gas exchange.
•In soil that is constantly aerated and
watered, oxygenated air can easily
flow from the air into the spaces
between soil particles.
•The oxygen is absorbed via the root
hairs of the plant and into the other
cells of the root.
During the plant’s respiration …
1.Oxygen is being converted to
carbon dioxide, which is released
through the same root hairs.
2.Although the rate of diffusion is low,
its rate is enough to meet the gas
exchange requirement of the roots.
Some plants evolve root adaptation in the
environment where they lived…
• In a mangrove environment where oxygen is poor
and unstable, mangrove plants develop lateral
breathing roots called PNEUMATOPHORES .
• These roots grow upward (negative geotropism)
as an extension of the underground root system.
As they are not submerged underwater, they can
obtain oxygen in an oxygen poor-mud flat.
THE END
Don’t forget to breathe