Respiratory System
While reading, here are your guide questions. This will help you to fully understand Respiratory System.
(Answers are to be written in your notebooks)
1. What are the four steps of respiration?
2. Explain the functions of the respiratory system.
3. Name the parts of the upper and lower respiratory tracts.
4. Explain how the conducting zone differs from the respiratory zone.
5. Describe the structures of the nasal cavity.
6. What are the five functions of the nasal cavity?
7. Name the three regions of the pharynx. With what other structures does each part communicate?
8. Name and describe the three single cartilages of the larynx. What are their functions?
9. Distinguish between the vestibular and vocal folds. How are sounds of different loudness and pitch
produced by the vocal folds?
10. How does the position of the arytenoid cartilages change when a person is simply breathing versus
making low pitched and high-pitched sounds?
11. What are the four functions of the larynx?
12. Explain the branching of the tracheobronchial tree.
13. Describe the arrangement of cartilage, smooth muscle, and epithelium in the tracheobronchial tree.
Explain why breathing becomes more difficult during an asthma attack.
14. How is debris removed from the tracheobronchial tree?
15. Name the two types of cells in the alveolar wall, and state their functions.
16. List the layers of the respiratory membrane.
17. Distinguish among a lung, a lung lobe, a bronchopulmonary segment, and a lobule. How are they
related to the tracheobronchial tree?
18. How many lobes are in the right lung and in the left lung? Why is there a difference in the number of
lobes?
19. List the muscles of inspiration, and describe their role in quiet inspiration. List the muscles of
expiration, and describe their role in quiet expiration. How does this change during labored breathing?
20. Name the pleurae of the lungs. What is their function?
21. What are the two major routes of blood flow to and from the lungs? What is the function of each
route?
22. Describe the lymphatic supply of the lungs.
23. What is ventilation?
24. Describe the process of making intra-alveolar pressure changes that occurs during quiet resting
breathing.
25. What is lung recoil, and what two factors cause it?
26. How does surfactant reduce lung recoil? What happens if the alveoli have insufficient surfactant?
27. How does a pneumothorax cause a lung to collapse? How does a pneumothorax affect the chest
cavity?
28. During inspiration, what causes pleural pressure to decrease? What effect does this have on intra-
alveolar pressure and air movement?
29. During expiration, what causes pleural pressure to increase? What effect does this have on intra-
alveolar pressure and air movement?
30. What is compliance? What is the effect on lung expansion when compliance increases or decreases?
31. Distinguish among tidal volume, inspiratory reserve volume, expiratory reserve volume, and residual
volume.
32. Differentiate among inspiratory capacity, functional residual capacity, vital capacity, and total lung
capacity. 37. What is forced expiratory volume in 1 second, and why it is clinically important?
32. What is the difference between minute volume and alveolar ventilation?
34. What is dead space? Contrast anatomical dead space with physiological dead space.
35. Where are central chemoreceptors and peripheral chemoreceptors? Which are most important for
regulating blood pH and CO2 level? How does this change during intense exercise?
36. Define hypercapnia and hypocapnia.
37. How does a decrease in blood pH affect respiratory rate? How does a decrease in CO2 affect
respiratory rate?
38. What is hypoxia? Why must arterial PO2 change significantly before it affects respiratory rate?