ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on some of the physiologic concepts responsible for normal function and specific measures of the lung’s ability to supply tissue cells with enough oxygen while removing excess carbon dioxide. The respiratory system consists of the lungs, conducting airways, pulmonary vasculature, respiratory muscles, and surrounding tissues and structures. Each plays an important role in influencing respiratory responses. Movement of gases in the respiratory airways occurs mainly by bulk flow throughout the region from the mouth to the nose to the fifteenth generation. The primary purpose of the respiratory system is gas exchange. A linear viscoelastic system consists of ideal resistive and compliant elements and can exhibit the frequency-dependence of respiratory tissue. Respiratory chemoreceptors exist peripherally in the aortic arch and carotic bodies and centrally in the ventral medulla oblongata of the brain. The respiratory controller is located in several places in the brain.
