BIOL 2200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 31: Thoracic Cavity, Medulla Oblongata, Air Sacs
Document Summary
Inhaled oxygen dissolves into moist lining of inner surface, and diffuses into capillaries. White blood cells remove foreign material: osteichthyans were the first animals to get lungs, amniotes were the first animals to use rib cages to ventilate their lungs. Breathing in mammals: negative pressure breathing, we create a gradient where pressure is lower inside the lungs than outside the body, causing air to be drawn in, muscle contractions expand thoracic cavity. Gas flows from high pressure to low pressure (into lungs) Muscles in rib cage pull thoracic cavity out. Diaphragm pulls thoracic cavity down: in hearts, self-regulation, in lungs, regulated by involuntary mechanisms controlled by medulla oblongata, ph of cerebrospinal fluid used as indicator of co2 level. Co2 reacts with h2o to form carbonic acid. Acid breaks down and dissociated hydrogen ions alters ph: as metabolic activity increases, change in ph leads to signal to increase breathing.