15.4: Gas Exchange
- Page ID
- 128759
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- Compare the composition of atmospheric air and alveolar air
- Describe the mechanisms that drive pulmonary gas exchange and tissue gas exchange
The purpose of the respiratory system is to perform gas exchange. Pulmonary ventilation provides air to the alveoli for this gas exchange process. At the respiratory membrane, where the alveolar and capillary walls meet, gases move across the membranes, with oxygen entering the bloodstream and carbon dioxide exiting. It is through this mechanism that blood is oxygenated and carbon dioxide, the waste product of cellular respiration, is removed from the body. Tissue gas exchange refers to the process where oxygen that has entered the blood from the lungs is transported to the body's tissues. Oxygen in blood diffuses into the tissues and carbon dioxide diffuses out of the tissues into the blood. Carbon dioxide is then carried in the blood to the lungs to be removed, and the blood oxygen will diffuse back into the blood.
Gas Exchange
In order to understand the mechanisms of gas exchange in the lung, it is important to understand the underlying principles of gases and their behavior. In addition to Boyle’s law, several other gas laws help to describe the behavior of gases.
Gas Laws and Air Composition
Gas molecules exert force on the surfaces with which they are in contact; this force is called pressure. In natural systems, gases are normally present as a mixture of different types of molecules. For example, the atmosphere consists of oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and other gaseous molecules, and this gaseous mixture exerts a certain pressure referred to as atmospheric pressure (Table \(\PageIndex{1}\)). Partial pressure (Px) is the pressure of a single type of gas in a mixture of gases. For example, in the atmosphere, oxygen exerts a partial pressure, and nitrogen exerts another partial pressure, independent of the partial pressure of oxygen (Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\)). Total pressure is the sum of all the partial pressures of a gaseous mixture. Dalton’s law describes the behavior of nonreactive gases in a gaseous mixture and states that a specific gas type in a mixture exerts its own pressure; thus, the total pressure exerted by a mixture of gases is the sum of the partial pressures of the gases in the mixture.
| Gas | Percent of total composition | Partial pressure (mm Hg) |
|---|---|---|
| Nitrogen (N2) | 78.6 | 597.4 |
| Oxygen (O2) | 20.9 | 158.8 |
| Water (H2O) | 0.4 | 3.0 |
| Carbon dioxide (CO2) | 0.04 | 0.3 |
| Others | 0.06 | 0.5 |
| Total composition/total atmospheric pressure | 100% | 760.0 |
Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Partial and Total Pressures of a Gas Partial pressure is the force exerted by a gas. The sum of the partial pressures of all the gases in a mixture equals the total pressure.
Partial pressure is extremely important in predicting the movement of gases. Recall that gases tend to equalize their pressure in two regions that are connected. A gas will move from an area where its partial pressure is higher to an area where its partial pressure is lower. In addition, the greater the partial pressure difference between the two areas, the more rapid is the movement of gases.
The composition of air in the atmosphere and in the alveoli differs. In both cases, the relative concentration of gases is nitrogen > oxygen > water vapor > carbon dioxide. The amount of water vapor present in alveolar air is greater than that in atmospheric air (Table \(\PageIndex{2}\)). Recall that the respiratory system works to humidify incoming air, thereby causing the air present in the alveoli to have a greater amount of water vapor than atmospheric air. In addition, alveolar air contains a greater amount of carbon dioxide and less oxygen than atmospheric air. This is no surprise, as gas exchange removes oxygen from and adds carbon dioxide to alveolar air. Both deep and forced breathing cause the alveolar air composition to be changed more rapidly than during quiet breathing. As a result, the partial pressures of oxygen and carbon dioxide change, affecting the diffusion process that moves these materials across the membrane. This will cause oxygen to enter and carbon dioxide to leave the blood more quickly.
| Gas | Percent of total composition | Partial pressure (mm Hg) |
|---|---|---|
| Nitrogen (N2) | 74.9 | 569 |
| Oxygen (O2) | 13.7 | 104 |
| Water (H2O) | 6.2 | 40 |
| Carbon dioxide (CO2) | 5.2 | 47 |
| Total composition/total alveolar pressure | 100% | 760.0 |
Gas Exchange
Gas exchange occurs at two sites in the body: in the lungs, where oxygen is picked up and carbon dioxide is released at the respiratory membrane, and at the tissues, where oxygen is released and carbon dioxide is picked up. Pulmonary gas exchange is the exchange of gases within the lungs, and occurs in the alveoli of the lungs. Tissue gas exchange is the exchange of gases with the tissues. The actual exchange of gases occurs due to simple diffusion. Energy is not required to move oxygen or carbon dioxide across membranes. Instead, these gases follow pressure gradients that allow them to diffuse. The anatomy of the lung maximizes the diffusion of gases: The respiratory membrane is highly permeable to gases; the respiratory and blood capillary membranes are very thin; and there is a large surface area throughout the lungs.
Pulmonary Gas Exchange
The pulmonary artery carries deoxygenated blood into the lungs from the heart, where it branches and eventually becomes the capillary network composed of pulmonary capillaries. These pulmonary capillaries create the respiratory membrane with the alveoli (Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\)). As the blood is pumped through this capillary network and arrives at the lungs, gas exchange occurs. The partial pressure of oxygen within the alveoli is higher than the partial pressure of oxygen in the blood as it arrives at the lungs. This causes oxygen to move down its pressure gradient, from high (the lungs) to low (into the blood). Carbon dioxide travels in the opposite direction. The partial pressure of carbon dioxide is slightly higher in the blood at the lungs compared to the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in the alveoli. Carbon dioxide moves down its pressure gradient from higher in the blood to lower in the alveoli. Carbon dioxide is then exhaled.
Although a small amount of the oxygen is able to dissolve directly into plasma from the alveoli, most of the oxygen is picked up by erythrocytes (red blood cells) and binds to a protein called hemoglobin. Oxygenated hemoglobin is red, causing the overall appearance of bright red oxygenated blood, which returns to the heart through the pulmonary veins. Carbon dioxide is released in the opposite direction of oxygen, from the blood to the alveoli. Some of the carbon dioxide is returned on hemoglobin, but can also be dissolved in plasma or is present as a converted form.
Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\) Pulmonary Gas Exchange: The alveolus is responsible for pulmonary gas exchange with the blood in capillaries. Their areas of closest contact are is called the respiratory membrane, which is made of two layers of simple squamous epithelium with a shared basement membrane. (Image and caption credit: "Respiratory Membrane" by Jennifer Lange is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, modification of The Respiratory Zone by OpenStax; includes Red blood cells by Jessica Polka.) / Cropped from original
Tissue Gas Exchange
Similar to pulmonary gas exchange, tissue gas exchange also occurs as simple diffusion due to a partial pressure gradient. However, the partial pressure gradients are opposite of those present at the respiratory membrane. The partial pressure of oxygen in tissues is low, about 40 mm Hg, because oxygen is continuously used for cellular respiration. In contrast, the partial pressure of oxygen in the blood is about 100 mm Hg. This creates a pressure gradient that causes oxygen to dissociate from hemoglobin, diffuse out of the blood, cross the interstitial space, and enter the tissue. Hemoglobin that has little oxygen bound to it loses much of its brightness, so that blood returning to the heart is more burgundy in color.
Considering that cellular respiration (a metabolic process) continuously produces carbon dioxide, the partial pressure of carbon dioxide is lower in the blood than it is in the tissue, causing carbon dioxide to diffuse out of the tissue, cross the interstitial fluid, and enter the blood. It is then carried back to the lungs either bound to hemoglobin, dissolved in plasma, or in a converted form. By the time blood returns to the heart, the partial pressure of oxygen has returned to about 40 mm Hg, and the partial pressure of carbon dioxide has returned to about 45 mm Hg. The blood is then pumped back to the lungs to be oxygenated once again during external respiration.
Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\): Internal Respiration Oxygen diffuses out of the capillary and into cells, whereas carbon dioxide diffuses out of cells and into the capillary.
Everyday Connection
Hyperbaric Chamber Treatment
A type of device used in some areas of medicine that exploits the behavior of gases is hyperbaric chamber treatment. A hyperbaric chamber is a unit that can be sealed and expose a patient to either 100 percent oxygen with increased pressure or a mixture of gases that includes a higher concentration of oxygen than normal atmospheric air, also at a higher partial pressure than the atmosphere. There are two major types of chambers: monoplace and multiplace. Monoplace chambers are typically for one patient, and the staff tending to the patient observes the patient from outside of the chamber (Figure 22.24). Some facilities have special monoplace hyperbaric chambers that allow multiple patients to be treated at once, usually in a sitting or reclining position, to help ease feelings of isolation or claustrophobia. Multiplace chambers are large enough for multiple patients to be treated at one time, and the staff attending these patients is present inside the chamber. In a multiplace chamber, patients are often treated with air via a mask or hood, and the chamber is pressurized.
Hyperbaric chamber treatment is based on the behavior of gases. As you recall, gases move from a region of higher partial pressure to a region of lower partial pressure. In a hyperbaric chamber, the atmospheric pressure is increased, causing a greater amount of oxygen than normal to diffuse into the bloodstream of the patient. Hyperbaric chamber therapy is used to treat a variety of medical problems, such as wound and graft healing, anaerobic bacterial infections, and carbon monoxide poisoning. Exposure to and poisoning by carbon monoxide is difficult to reverse, because hemoglobin’s affinity for carbon monoxide is much stronger than its affinity for oxygen, causing carbon monoxide to replace oxygen in the blood. Hyperbaric chamber therapy can treat carbon monoxide poisoning, because the increased atmospheric pressure causes more oxygen to diffuse into the bloodstream. At this increased pressure and increased concentration of oxygen, carbon monoxide is displaced from hemoglobin. Another example is the treatment of anaerobic bacterial infections, which are created by bacteria that cannot or prefer not to live in the presence of oxygen. An increase in blood and tissue levels of oxygen helps to kill the anaerobic bacteria that are responsible for the infection, as oxygen is toxic to anaerobic bacteria. For wounds and grafts, the chamber stimulates the healing process by increasing energy production needed for repair. Increasing oxygen transport allows cells to ramp up cellular respiration and thus ATP production, the energy needed to build new structures.