GENERAL ZOOLOGY Lecture
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM: Gaseous Exchange
Characteristics of respiratory organs/structures:
- Requirements in order for an organ or
structure to function for gas exchange:
a. Large surface area-to-volume ratio
- the larger the surface area, the greater
the diffusion process (faster gas
diffusion)
- earthworm – direct diffusion, uses its
body covering
- alveoli of the lungs – numerous, has a
large total surface area
- gills of fish – folded, large surface area
b. Highly vascularized
- high amount of blood vessels in the are
(for more blood supply because blood is
the medium for gaseous transport)
- echinoderms – no blood but coelomic
fluid
- earthworms and polychaetas – have
hemoglobin even though they are
invertebrates, produces red pigment
that’s why earthworms are red in color,
they also have thin skin
- gills of fish are highly vascularized,
reddish gills indicate freshness
c. Thin
- structures where gaseous exchange
happens are thin
- simple squamous tissue (flattened
single-layer of cells)
d. Moist
- earthworms, frogs have moist skin
because they take oxygen through their
body covering, moist skin dissolves
gases (direct diffusion)
- Plasma membrane as the body covering
of single-celled organisms/protozoans –
direct diffusion
- Epidermis in amphibians – highly
vascular
- Papulla and tube feet in echinoderms
with thin-layered epidermis – water
vascular system, have coelomic fluid
instead of blood that transports gases
- Alveoli in mammals
- Gills in fish – countercurrent flow
- Tracheal system in insects – system of
tubes and tubules, most efficient
respiratory system in active animals
1. Diffusion through general body surface/skin
- Poriferans and sponges
o Ostia – pores on the body wall
where water containing oxygen
enters, water will diffuse to the
spongocoel
o Spongocoel – central region
o Choanocytes – where oxygen
diffuse in the innermost layer
o From choanocytes, oxygen
diffuses to other cells of the
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body wall, will pick up carbon - Arthropods’ blood is bluish because of

dioxide copper (inorganic element)
o Diffusion – occurs form a place
of greater to lesser gas
concentration, if oxygen
concentration is higher in the
incoming water compared to
the cells, water will diffuse
inside the cells; carbon dioxide 4. Tube feet and papulae in sea stars
concentration is higher inside
- Echinoderms
the cells, CO2 will diffuse from
- Tube feet – thin, for gaseous exchange
the cells to the water
- Podia – terminal part of water vascular
o Osculum – where water exits
system, functions as movement
- Planaria
- Papillae – located at aboral surface,
o Direct diffusion sometimes called as ‘skin gills’
- Earthworms
o Moist skin
- Frog
o Direct diffusion
o Bluish portion – carries blood
without oxygen content but
high in carbon dioxide
(deoxygenated blood)
o Reddish portion – oxygenated
blood
5. Tracheal system in insects

- Spiracle on the ventral surface –

opening where air passes, system of
tubes and tubules, entrance of the
insects’ tracheal system, surrounded by
2. Parasitic worms: anaerobic respiration hairs to filter particles
- Tracheal system of a dissected and
3. Book lungs in spiders and scorpions
saline-washed caterpillar (5th instar)
- Book lungs are made up of soft, thin o Instar – what the stages of
plates arranged like pages of a book development in insects is called

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- T – tracheal tubules (like plumbing 7. External gills in salamander

pipes)
- L – tracheal longitudinal branches
- G – gut
- S – spiracle/opening

6. Gills in fishes: countercurrent flow

- Salamanders during larval form don’t

have a fully developed operculum,
some salamanders retain this condition

8. Gaseous exchange in frog: gills (tadpole),

skin, nostrils, mouth lining, lungs

- Two fluids:
o Water that flows over the gills
that enters through the mouth
o Blood that flows through
capillaries (blood supply of gills)
inside lamellae
- Water and blood flows in opposite
directions in order to maximize oxygen
or extract more oxygen in water,
because water has less oxygen content
than air
- Tadpoles have gills
- Inspiration or inhalation
o Nostrils open
o Air enters
o Buccal/oral cavity expands
o Nostrils close
o Buccal cavity contracts
- Oxygen from the water will diffuse into o Glottis opens
the blood (gases move from a place of o Air is pushed towards the lungs,
greater to lesser concentration, down lungs expand
the concentration gradient) - Expiration or exhalation – assumes a
higher carbon dioxide concentration,
involves the lining of the mouth,
nostrils, and lungs
o Lungs contract
o Buccal cavity expands
o Nostrils open

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o Buccal cavity contract - Pharynx – most common pathway of air

o Glottis close at the same time and food, has three regions:
to ensure that the air exits via o Laryngopharynx – larynx
the nostrils o Oropharynx – oral, tongue
o Nasopharynx – nasal cavity
Human Respiratory System
- Entrance to the auditory or eustachian
a. Upper respiratory tract tube – nasal cavity is connected to the
middle ear, infection in the nasal cavity
may affect the ear
- Internal nares

b. Lower respiratory tract

- Ribs – protect vital internal organs in

the thorax, involved in breathing
- Sphenoid sinus and frontal sinus –
especially the muscles that are attached
lined by mucous membrane (epithelia
to the ribs
with goblet cells), if the is an infection:
- Trachea is supported on the outside by
sinusitis
rings of cartilage
- Nasal conchae – also called nasal
- Thoracic cavity increases volume during
turbinate, has superior, middle, and
inspiration, decreases volume during
inferior conchae, also covered by
expiration
mucous membrane, function: to
- Bronchus – individual tubes, trachea
increase the surface area inside the
branches out into two, called bronchi
nasal cavity
- Bronchioles – bronchus is further
- External nares – opening of the nose
reduced into much smaller tubules
- Hard palate and soft palate or uvula at
- Terminal bronchioles
the posterior – division that separates
- Alveoli – air sacs, located at the end of
the nasal cavity from the oral cavity
terminal bronchioles
- Oral cavity
- Epiglottis – made up of elastic cartilage;
main function is to close the glottis
during swallowing of food to prevent
solid food from entering the respiratory
tract
- Passageway for air is located more
anteriorly compared to esophagus
- Trachea

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- Pleura – covers lungs, provides
protection or cushion, secretes fluid
that acts as a lubricant that allows lungs
to move smoothly during breathing and
prevents friction, fluids allow pleurae to
glide over each other without friction
o Visceral pleura – found at the
surface of lungs
o Parietal pleura – near the
thoracic cavity, more adjacent
to the walls of the chest
- Pleural cavity – space created in
between
Alveoli Structure and Function
- Alveoli – tiny air sacs at the end of the
bronchioles (tiny branches of air tubes
in the lungs)
Mechanics of Breathing
- Where the lungs and the blood
exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide
during respiration.
o Oxygen breathed in from the air
passes through the alveoli and
into the blood and travels to
the tissues throughout the
body.
o Carbon dioxide travels in the
blood from the body's tissues
and passes through the alveoli
to be breathed out.
- Air moves through different parts of the
respiratory system as follows:
o Air is inhaled into the mouth or
nose.
o The air travels down the
trachea, also called the
windpipe.
o The air travels through airways
called the bronchi and into the
lungs.
o The air is directed through
smaller and smaller passages,
called bronchioles.
o The air moves through a tiny
duct called the alveolar duct
and finally enters an individual
alveolus, which is a tiny,
balloon-shaped structure.
o At this point, the oxygen
molecules move through a
single layer of lung cells in the
alveolus, then through a single
cell layer in a capillary to enter
the bloodstream.
o CO2 is a byproduct of the
process in cells that uses oxygen
to produce energy. As oxygen
moves out of the alveolus, CO2
molecules pass into it. They are
then breathed out of the body
through the nose or mouth.
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Alveolus Gas Exchange
- Inhalation/Inspiration: diaphragm
contracts, become flatter/less dome-
shaped
o Intercostal muscles contract, rib
cage/thoracic cage expands and
increases its volume – air enters
- Exhalation/Expiration: diaphragm
relaxes, becomes more dome-shaped
o Intercostal muscles relax,
thoracic cavity volume
decreases, gets smaller
o Air inside the lungs is forced
outside
- Diaphragm – besides its role in
breathing, also separates thoracic cavity
from abdominal cavity, dome-shaped
o large, broad sheet of muscles
generally present in mammals
- Intercostal muscles or rib muscles –
striated/skeletal muscles attached to
the ribs
- Breathing involves hormonal and
neural control
o Once chemoreceptors detect
low concentrations of oxygen in
the blood, it will immediately
send a message to the higher
center (brain), brain will the
give an order via the nerve
fibers that supplies that
diaphragm and intercostal
muscles
o Nerve fibers – nervous
connections of diaphragm and
intercostal muscles
- Alveoli – air sacs that make up the
lungs, highly microscopic, millions of
alveoli in the lungs
- Blue – veinous supply/capillaries
carrying deoxygenated blood
- Red – capillaries carrying highly
oxygenated blood
- Walls of alveoli and capillaries are thin
for diffusion – only one layer of
endothelium/simple squamous
(flattened cells)
- Air – mixture of gases, nitrogen is the
most abundant component of air, but it
is not involved in the process of
breathing, next is oxygen (21% of air)
carbon dioxide is only about 0.03
o Many oxygen molecules inhaled
o Blue color in the diagram –
capillaries low in oxygen, high in
carbon dioxide (carrying blood
from tissues containing carbon
dioxide which is a product of
aerobic respiration)
o Oxygen will diffuse from the
alveolus to the capillary to the
lungs
o Carbon dioxide will diffuse
from the capillary to the
alveolus
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- Diffusion – movement of
particles/molecules from a place of
greater (inside the alveolus) to lower
concentration (to capillaries)
- Blood transport is continuous with the
help of muscles in arteries and
arterioles, likewise in veins and venules
o Pressure involved in contraction
is transferred to the capillary
- Right ventricle – pumps deoxygenated
blood to the lungs for oxygenation
o Once oxygenated, blood is
brought back to the heart via
the left auricle, enters the left
ventricle
- Left ventricle – has the thickest wall
among the heart chambers, involves
greatest pressure in pumping as it
pumps oxygenated blood that needs to
be distributed to all parts of the body
Gaseous exchange between blood and
cells/tissues
- Red blood cell and blood plasma inside
the capillary, but blood here exchanges
gases with tissues
- Cells that make up the tissues undergo
aerobic respiration where carbon
dioxide is produced as a product
o Most of this carbon dioxide is
eliminated from the body via
exhalation
o “Most” because it is not
desirable to reduce the amount
of carbon dioxide in the body to
zero, some CO2 must remain in
the body (related to pH
balance)
o Bicarbonate (HCO3-1, important
electrolyte) and carbonic acid
(H2CO3) from carbon dioxide –
components of buffer system
o Buffer system – resists change
in pH levels in fluids like blood
(7.34 pH, slightly basic)
o Change in blood pH level will
affect the functioning of
enzymes, ionic/electrolyte
balance will be lost, results to
diseases
Fate of CO2 after being picked up from
cells/tissues:
1. Most CO2 diffuses to the RBC
- A greater percentage of CO2 released in
the cells/tissues during aerobic
respiration diffuses into the interstitial
fluid into the RBC inside the capillaries
2. CO2 is dissolved in the blood plasma
- Once CO2 reaches the plasma inside the
capillaries, it is dissolved in the plasma,
it doesn’t react with other molecules
- Other CO2 molecules react with water
to form carbonic acid
o Involves a slow reaction
because the enzyme called
carbonic anhydrase that
catalyzes the reaction is absent
in blood plasma, but is present
inside the red blood cell
o Carbonic acid – weak acid;
weak acids do not undergo
complete ionization (cannot
form ions 100%, some remain in
their molecular state/are
retained as carbonic acid)
o Bicarbonate – ionized carbonic
acid, anion (negatively charged)
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o Hydrogen ions (H+) bind to
negatively charged plasma
proteins
3. Bicarbonate (HCO3-1) diffuses to the plasma
- Since there is an increase in the
concentration of bicarbonate inside the
RBC, the tendency is for it to move out
to the plasma
- On the other hand, chloride ions (also
negatively charged) located at the
plasma will diffuse and move in the RBC
– called chloride shift
- Hydrogen ions (H+) combine with
hemoglobin (Hb) = HHb
4. Formation of carbaminohemoglobin
- Some CO2 molecules diffuse inside the
RBC and combine with hemoglobin (Hb)
to form carbaminohemoglobin (HbCO2)
- CO2 will then be transported to the
lungs for expulsion
Oxygen:
- Picked up from alveoli/lungs
- Oxygen is initially in a combined state
(combined with hemoglobin) – called
oxyhemoglobin
- Oxygen will be diffused/released to the
tissues (greater to lower concentration)
- Once it reaches the tissues,
oxyhemoglobin decomposes, freeing
the oxygen
o Hemoglobin from
oxyhemoglobin will combine
with H+ to form HHb
(mentioned earlier)
o Single replacement reaction,
oxygen will be displaced by H+
- Small amounts of oxygen dissolved in
plasma directly diffuse from the
capillary into the interstitial fluid into
cells
Gaseous exchange between blood and lungs
- Red blood cell and blood plasma inside
the capillary, but blood here exchanges
gases with alveoli in the lungs
- Carbon dioxide has been picked up from
tissues and oxygen has been distributed
to the cells/tissues
- Blood goes back to the lungs
- Reactions are reversed – opposite
direction
a. Single layer of endothelium between capillary
and alveolus so CO2 dissolved in plasma directly
diffuses to the alveolus
b. On the other hand, CO2 combined with water
inside the RBC to form carbonic acid reverses its
reaction
- because CO2 in the blood that reached
the lungs must be released
- reverse reaction may happen as long as
concentration of bicarbonate (anion)
and hydrogen ions (cation) both
increase
- Increase in bicarbonate concentration:
o bicarbonate enters the RBC
(concentration of bicarbonate
increases)
o since bicarbonate (anion)
entered, chloride (also an
anion) will now exit to balance
charges and not become too
much negative – called reverse
chloride shift (involves
transport proteins)
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o bicarbonate and hydrogen ions

combine again to form carbonic
acid (H2CO3)
o Carbonic acid (H2CO3) breaks
down into carbon dioxide (CO2)
and water (H2O)
o Greater amount of CO2 inside
the RBC than in the lungs,
tendency is CO2 will diffuse to
the alveolus/lungs
- Increase in hydrogen ion (H+)
concentration:
o Oxygen from the alveolus
during inhalation is greater
concentrated in lungs than
capillaries, it will diffuse into
the RBC
o Oxygen will displace H+ ion
from HHb (single replacement
reaction), freeing the H+ ion –
involves a fast reaction because
of the presence of carbonic
anhydrase (present inside the
RBC)
▪ Therefore, H+ ion
concentration will
increase
o CO2 combined with hemoglobin
to form carbaminohemoglobin
also reverses process
▪ CO2 will be freed so it
can diffuse to the lungs
o Oxygen combines with Hb =
oxyhemoglobin for transport
into the cells/tissues
▪ Little amount of oxygen
molecules directly
diffuses to the blood
plasma
Neural regulation of respiration: How is
respiration/rate of breathing regulated?
- One way by which breathing is
controlled is through a feedback
mechanism by chemoreceptors that are
present in carotid and aortic arches
- Chemoreceptors – like sensors, detects
a decrease in concentration of oxygen
and carbon dioxide (called partial
pressure of oxygen and carbon dioxide)
o One group located at the
arteries near the aorta (arterial
chemoreceptors)
o One group located at the brain
in CNS (central
chemoreceptors)
- Information detected by
chemoreceptors will be communicated
to the higher center (brain)
- Medulla oblongata and pons –
breathing control center
o Give/transmit orders to the
intercostal muscles and
diaphragm which will then
execute the order
- Intercostal nerves – nerve supply of
intercostal muscles
- Phrenic nerves – nerve supply of
diaphragm

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