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Subject: General Science

Topic: The Respiratory System

INTRODUCTION

Cellular respiration involves the breakdown of organic molecules to produce ATP. A sufficient supply of oxygen is required for the aerobic respiratory machinery of Kreb’s Cycle and the Electron Transport System to efficiently convert stored organic energy into energy trapped in ATP. Carbon dioxide is also generated by cellular metabolismand must be removed from the cell. There must be an exchange of gases: carbon dioxide leaving the cell, oxygen entering. Animals have organ systems involved in facilitating this exchange as well as the transport of gases to and from exchange areas.

RESPIRATION IN SINGLE CELL ANIMALS

Single-celled organisms exchange gases directly across their cell membrane. However, the slow diffusion rate of oxygen relative to carbon dioxide limits the size of singlecelled organisms. Simple animals that lack specialized exchange surfaces have flattened, tubular, or thin shaped body plans, which are the most efficient for gas exchange. However, these simple animals are rather small in size.

RESPIRATION IN MULTICULTURAL ANIMALS

Large animals cannot maintain gas exchange by diffusion across their outer surface. They developed a variety of respiratory surfaces that all increase the surface area for exchange, thus allowing for larger bodies. A respiratory surface is covered with thin, moist epithelial cells that allow oxygen and carbon dioxide to exchange. Those gases can only cross cellmembranes when they are dissolved in water or an aqueous solution, thus respiratory surfaces must be moist.

ETHODS OF RESPIRATION OF VARIOUS ORGANISMS

(a) Sponges and jellyfish lack specialized organs for gas exchange, so they take gases directly from the surrounding water.

(b) Flatworms and annelids use their outer surfaces as gas exchange surfaces. Earthworms have a series of thin-walled blood vessels known as capillaries. Gas exchange occurs at capillaries located throughout the body as well as those in the respiratory surface

(c) Amphibians use their skin as a respiratory surface. Frogs eliminate carbon dioxide 2.5 times as fast through their skin as they do through their lungs. Eels (a fish) obtain 60% of their oxygen through their skin. Humans exchange only 1% of their carbon dioxide through their skin. Constraints of water loss dictate that terrestrial animals must develop more efficient lungs.

(d) Arthropods, annelids, and fish use gills: Gills greatly increase the surface area for gas exchange. They occur in a variety of animal groups including arthropods (including some terrestrial crustaceans), annelids, fish, and amphibians.Gills typically are convoluted outgrowths containing blood vessels covered by a thin epithelial layer. Typically gills are organized into a series of plates and may be internal (as in crabs and fish) or external to the body (as in some amphibians).Gills are very efficient at removing oxygen fromwater: there is only 1/20 the amount of oxygen present in water as in the same volume of air.Water flows over gills in one direction while blood flows in the opposite direction through gill capillaries. This countercurrent flow maximizes oxygen transfer. Terrestrial vertebrates utilize internal lungs:

(e) Tracheal Systems: Many terrestrial animals have their respiratory surfaces inside the body and connected to the outside by a series of tubes.Tracheae are these tubes that carry air directly to cells for gas exchange. Spiracles are openings at the body surface that lead to tracheae that branch into smaller tubes known as tracheoles. Body movements or contractions speed up the rate of diffusion of gases from tracheae into body cells. However, tracheae will not function well in animals whose body is longer than 5 cm.

(f) Lungs: Lungs are ingrowths of the body wall and connect to the outside by as series of tubes and small openings. Lung breathing probably evolved about 400 million years ago. Lungs are not entirely the sole property of vertebrates, some terrestrial snails have a gas exchange structures similar to those in frogs.