Anatomy Quiz 10 (“Respiratory”) study guide

What is the function of tonsils? Trap germs that are inhaled or swallowedYou have tonsils on your tongue, the sides of the back of your throat, and way up behind your uvula toward your nasal passages and your Auditory tube opening.Note: these nasal tonsils are aKA adenoids.

What is the difference between your larynx and your pharynx? Larynx is your voice box (the anterior notch is your Adam’s Apple, seen below as the maroon V-like notch in the front of the thyroid cartilage)Pharynx is your throat.

List the four laryngeal cartilage structures, and the one bone: The voice box (larynx) has thyroid, cricoid, artenyoid, and corniculate cartilages. - And of course the hyoid bone, which in the image below is the top-most dark gray structure, superior to the thyroid cartilage

What are nasal conchae and what do they do? Flap-like lateral extensions of the nasal passage that increase the surface area of the nasal passage, helping inhaled air to swirl around so more “smell” molecules encounter your olfactory sensors, and also to warm inhaled air.

What bone makes up your hard palate? Maxillarybone (aka maxilla…not to be confused with your axilla, which of course is: your armpit!)

What cartilage structure is a valve/switcher that routes food into the esophagus and air into the trachea? Epiglottis. You MIGHT be able to see your epiglottis, but beware, it’s freaky if you’ve never seen it! 1. Grab a flashlight2. Go to a mirror that’s low enough so you can bend way forward and see down your throat. (Or get a hand mirror and hold it way up above your head.)3. Stick your tongue out and shine the light as far down the back of your throat as you can. You’ll have to maneuver your tongue a bit, make it move as far down toward your hyoid bone as you can.4. You MAY be able to see what looks like another small tongue sticking UP from the back of your throat! That’s your epiglottis!

What nerve controls the diaphragm? (Is this nerve cranial or spinal?)  The phrenic nerve is spinal

What cells produce surfactant, and how does this substance facilitate breathing?

Produced by alveolar Type 2 cells (AT-II), surfactant keeps the sponge-like lung tissue for collapsing each time you exhale. (Think of a sponge…the sponge material is strong enough to return to shape after you squeeze it out. Your lung tissue is much more delicate. If you had lung tissue in your hands full of water and squeezed it out, it would more behave like a tee shirt or paper towel and stay squished!)

You’re breathing while chewing food: list, in order, the structures an air molecule will pass through between the environment and your alveoli. Nasal Cavity/passages, pharynx (back of the throat), larynx (voice box), trachea (windpipe), bronchi (singular: bronchus), bronchioles, alveoli (singular: alveolus)

What are the two membranes called that 1) surround each lung, and 2) line the thoracic cavity? What is the space between them called?

- Visceral pleura lines each lung- parietal pleura lines the thorax- pleural cavity is the interstitial space between them (this image calls it pleural space.)

When the diaphragm contracts, what happens to intrathoracic pressure? What happens to the lung because of this pressure change? When you drink from a straw your tongue pulls back in your mouth, reducing pressure in your mouyh so the liquid comes up the straw. SAME THING WITH YOUR DIAPHRAM. It contracts, pulls the floor of the thorax down reducing pressure in the lungs, and the only opening to equalize that pressure is your trachea: air enters your lungs!

What muscles are involved with inspiration? What muscles cause expiration? - EXTERNAL intercostals & Diaphragm expand the volume of the chest, lowering pressure so air

rushes in.- INTERNAL intercostals, Abdominal muscles reduce the volume of the chest forcing air out. NOTE,

this is only when you are blowing out candles, or laughing, or otherwise forcing air out of your lungs. Most of the time you exhale simply because the weight of your ribs, chest muscles (and everything else that was slightly elevated when you inhaled) simply depresses the lungs slightly causing air to flow out a the typical relaxed rate of normal breathing.

What blood vessels generally carry oxygen-rich, CO2-poor blood, and vice versa? What blood vessels are exceptions to these generalizations?

Arteries, by definition, carry blood from the heart, and veins return blood to the heart. No gas concentration is implied with these names BUT with one exception, vessels leaving the heart carry blood that is freshly oxygenated and CO2 poor. Vessels approaching the heart carry the opposite; *relatively* O2 poor and CO2 rich.

THE EXCEPTIONS are the vessels that carry blood between the heart & lungs. - The Pulmonary Vein carries blood to the heart from the lungs where they’ve just been oxygenated

- The Pulmonary Artery carries O2 poor blood from the heart to the lungs to they can pick up a load of O2 and dump CO2

Differentiate between hyperpnea and hyperventilation. - Hyperpnea - breathing deeper but not necessarily faster. Happens naturally with exercise, and some illnesses - Hyperventilation is breathing faster, exhaling more air than you take in 

What kinds of sensory structures are found in the aortic and carotid bodies? Chemoreceptors that detect levels of O2, CO2 and glucose in blood leaving the heart

Someone with sleep apnea will stop breathing for how long? 10 – 40 seconds, or even longer!

Differentiate between emphysema and asthma? (Which involves a constriction of breathing space, and which involves an expansion of breathing space? Asthma - constriction of breathing space caused by inflammation of bronchiolesemphysema – expansion of breathing space as walls of alveoli break down and “merge” forming larger spaces

Which breathing disorders, today, are collectively referred to as COPD? - Chronic bronchitis & emphysema are the primary two, but you may hear about refractory asthma being

included in COPD