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The rete mirabile utilizes countercurrent blood flow within the net (blood flowing in opposite directions) to act as a countercurrent exchanger. It exchanges heat, ions, or gases between vessel walls so that the two bloodstreams within the rete maintain a gradient with respect to temperature, or concentration of gases or solutes.
Pathophysiology (or physiopathology) is a branch of study, at the intersection of pathology and physiology, concerning disordered physiological processes that cause, result from, or are otherwise associated with a disease or injury.
k H CO 2 is a constant including the solubility of carbon dioxide in blood. k H CO 2 is approximately 0.03 (mmol/L)/mmHg; p CO 2 is the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in the blood; Combining these equations results in the following equation relating the pH of blood to the concentration of bicarbonate and the partial pressure of carbon ...
The average red blood cell contains 250 million hemoglobin molecules. [7] Hemoglobin contains a globin protein unit with four prosthetic heme groups (hence the name heme-o-globin); each heme is capable of reversibly binding with one gaseous molecule (oxygen, carbon monoxide, cyanide, etc.), [8] therefore a typical red blood cell may carry up to one billion gas molecules.
Exchange of gases in the lung occurs by ventilation and perfusion. [1] Ventilation refers to the in-and-out movement of air of the lungs and perfusion is the circulation of blood in the pulmonary capillaries. [1] In mammals, physiological respiration involves respiratory cycles of inhaled and exhaled breaths.
[3] [6] This blood then enters the left atrium, which pumps it through the mitral valve into the left ventricle. [3] [6] From the left ventricle, the blood passes through the aortic valve to the aorta. [3] [6] The blood is then distributed to the body through the systemic circulation before returning again to the pulmonary circulation. [3] [6]
Why are there blood types? It is unclear what the origin and purpose of having blood types is. It is thought that O blood may be an adaptation to malaria and that different blood types respond to different diseases but this hypothesis has yet to be proven.
Inadequate supply occurs, for example, with hypoperfusion as occurs in hemorrhagic shock. A rise in lactate out of proportion to the level of pyruvate, e.g., in mixed venous blood, is termed "excess lactate", and is an indicator of anaerobic glycolysis occurring in muscle cells, as seen during strenuous exercise. Once oxygenation is restored ...