What is the name of the membrane through which respiratory gases move?

What is the name of the membrane through which respiratory gases move?

Gas exchange occurs in microscopic dead-end air-filled sacs called alveoli, where a very thin membrane (called the blood-air barrier) separates the blood in the alveolar capillaries (in the walls of the alveoli) from the alveolar air in the sacs.

What do respiratory gases diffuse through?

Gas exchange takes place in the millions of alveoli in the lungs and the capillaries that envelop them. As shown below, inhaled oxygen moves from the alveoli to the blood in the capillaries, and carbon dioxide moves from the blood in the capillaries to the air in the alveoli.

What are the layers of the respiratory tract?

There are four main histological layers within the respiratory system: respiratory mucosa, which includes epithelium and supporting lamina propria, submucosa, cartilage and/or muscular layer and adventitia.

Which two gases diffuse across the respiratory surface?

Oxygenated air, taken in during inhalation, diffuses across the surface of the lungs into the bloodstream, and carbon dioxide diffuses from the blood into the lungs and expelled during exhalation.

What is the gas exchange in the lungs called?

The bronchi deliver oxygen-rich air to the lungs, where gas exchange occurs in tiny air sacs called alveoli.

Where does the diffusion of respiratory gases take place?

Diffusion of respiratory gases. For gas to transfer between the alveolus and the haemoglobin in the red blood cell it must diffuse across the alveolar and capillary walls, through the plasma and across the red cell membrane.

What are the different layers of the respiratory membrane?

Note the following different layers of the respiratory membrane: 1. A layer of fluid lining the alveolus and containing surfactant that reduces the surface tension of the alveolar fluid 2. The alveolar epithelium composed of thin epithelial cells 3. An epithelial basement membrane 4.

How does the thickness of the respiratory membrane affect diffusion?

The thickness of the respiratory membrane occa-sionally increases—for instance, as a result of edema fluid in the interstitial space of the membrane and in the alveoli—so that the respiratory gases must then diffuse not only through the membrane but also through this fluid.

Where does gas exchange take place in the lungs?

Further, gas exchange between the alveolar air and the pulmonary blood occurs through the mem-branes of all the terminal portions of the lungs, not merely in the alveoli themselves. All these membranes are collectively known as the respiratory membrane, also called the pulmonary membrane. Respiratory Membrane.