Respiration and Gaseous exchange

Respiration is the process through which oxygen and carbon dioxide are exchanged between both the atmosphere as well as the body’s cells. External respiration is the term for this.Gas exchange is a physical process wherein gases diffuse across a surface in a passive manner. The air/water functionality of a water body, the top of a gas bubble in a liquid, a gas-permeable membrane, or a biological membrane separating an organism from its extracellular space are all examples of this surface. 

Basic Principles of Gas Exchange

Diffusion is the primary mode of gas exchange throughout respiration. Diffusion is a transportation process that is influenced by a concentration gradient. Gas molecules travel from a portion of the significant to a low-concentration zone. In the lungs, blood with a low oxygen concentration and a high carbon dioxide concentration exchanges gases with air. while the carbon dioxide content is lower. All through respiration, this concentration gradient allows for gas exchange.

A respiratory organ is made up of a surface that allows for gas exchange among blood and would either water or air via diffusion.The surface has to be smooth.

• Wet enough even to keep the cells alive
•  Large enough just to allow for adequate gas exchange
•  Thin enough just to allow for fast diffusion

In respiration

• CO2 levels in the blood entering the respiratory organ must be high, while O2 levels must be low. 
• These gases must diffuse across into bodily tissues. 
• A functional relationship between both the respiratory and circulatory systems is required. 
• The external air/water medium must be refreshed on a regular basis.

Many protochordates use external cutaneous respiration as their ancestral mode of respiration.During the process of external respiration

• At the region of the epidermis, oxygen and carbon dioxide are exchanged as they flow into and out of tissues.
• Small vertebrates can still go through this procedure if they have low exercise levels and reside in cool moving water or damp air – frogs meet around half of their gas exchange requirements via their skin.

Many creatures have evolved specialised organ systems to carry out the process of diffusion since most vertebrates are too massive for each cell to come into direct contact with the environment.

Although the distinction is not absolute, fishes utilise gills and tetrapods use lungs.Gaseous exchange may happen by ventilation of the respiratory system’s organs.The ability of respiratory structures to breathe is dependent on their ability to breathe.

Ram ventilation – The passage of water all across gill membranes is aided by forward velocity.

Dual pump – Water flows in a fairly constant unidirectional flow over the gill curtain between them when buccal and opercular motion work together.

• The suction period starts with closed valves and squeezed buccal and opercular cavities.
• The internal oral valves open when the buccal cavity swells, allowing water to flow into the cavity and across the gill curtain.
• The oral valve closes although during the force phase, and water is driven out through the opercular valve.

Pulse pump –  An inhalation/exhalation phase is added to the dual pump.

• The passage of exhausted air from the lungs into the buccal cavity begins the exhalation phase.
• The exhalation phase ends with air being expelled from the buccal cavity around the outside, either by the mouth or via operculum.
• The inhalation phase begins when the organism inhales fresh air through its mouth.
• The passage of air from either the buccal cavity to the lungs completes the inhalation phase.

Human gas exchange process :-

Because most living things continuously consume and create gases as a result of cellular and metabolic activities, an effective system for gas exchange among the inside of the cell(s) and the external environment is needed. Bacteria and protozoa, for example, are small, unicellular organisms with a high surface-area-to-volume ratio. The gas exchange membrane is usually the cell membrane in these organisms. Some microscopic multicellular organisms, such as flatworms, can also exchange enough gas through the skin or cuticle that covers their bodies. In most bigger creatures with lack of required ratios, specialised structures with convoluted edges, such as gills, pulmonary alveoli, and spongy mesophyll, offer the enormous area required for successful gas exchange.

Systems of Gas Exchange

The respiratory system’s principal role is to give oxygen to the cells of the body’s tissues while also removing carbon dioxide, which is a waste material of the cells. The nasal cavity, trachea, and lungs are the primary components of the human respiratory system.

To perform their metabolic processes, all aerobic organisms require oxygen. Different creatures have created various methods of acquiring oxygen from the outer atmosphere as they progressed along the evolutionary tree. The respiratory system’s complexity is proportional to the size of the organism. Diffusion distances grow as animal size increases, and the surface area to volume ratio decreases.

Conclusion:-

Although the lungs can carry a vast amount of air, they are rarely filled to their full capacity. Tidal volume, expiratory reserve volume, inspiratory reserve volume, and residual volume are all measurements of lung volume. The overall lung capacity is equivalent to the total of these. The partial pressure difference between oxygen and carbon dioxide in the air drives oxygen into the tissues & carbon dioxide out of the body.