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Reinflation of the alveoli following exhalation is made easier by the surfactant, which reduces surface tension in the thin fluid lining of the alveoli. The fluid coating is produced by the body in order to facilitate the transfer of gases between blood and alveolar air, and the type II cells are typically found at the blood–air barrier. [19 ...
An alveolus (plural: alveoli, from Latin alveus, "little cavity"), is an anatomical structure that has the form of a hollow cavity. Mainly found in the lung, the pulmonary alveoli are spherical outcroppings of the respiratory bronchioles and are the primary sites of gas exchange with the blood. Date: December 2007: Source: Own work using:
As part of the pulmonary circulation they carry oxygenated blood back to the heart, as opposed to the veins of the systemic circulation which carry deoxygenated blood. [citation needed] By definition, a vein is a blood vessel that carries blood to the heart, whether oxygenated or deoxygenated.
The blood leaving the alveolar capillaries and is eventually distributed throughout the body therefore has a partial pressure of oxygen of 13–14 kPa (100 mmHg), and a partial pressure of carbon dioxide of 5.3 kPa (40 mmHg) (i.e. the same as the oxygen and carbon dioxide gas tensions as in the alveoli). [6]
An increase in Pi causes extraalveolar blood vessels to reduce in caliber, in turn causing blood flow to decrease (extraalveolar blood vessels are those blood vessels outside alveoli). Intraalveolar blood vessels (pulmonary capillaries) are thin walled vessels adjacent to alveoli which are subject to the pressure changes described by zones 1-3 ...
[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]
Exhalation (or expiration) is the flow of the breath out of an organism. In animals, it is the movement of air from the lungs out of the airways , to the external environment during breathing . This happens due to elastic properties of the lungs, as well as the internal intercostal muscles which lower the rib cage and decrease thoracic volume.
The alveoli are tiny air sacs in the lungs where gas exchange takes place. The mean number of alveoli in a human lung is 480 million. [11] When the diaphragm contracts, a negative pressure is generated in the thorax and air rushes in to fill the cavity. When that happens, these sacs fill with air, making the lung expand.