Conducting airways

Tlie respiratory system is tlie main target organ for vapour, gas or mist. Readily-soluble cheirticals, e.g. chlorine or phosgene, attack the upper respiratory tract less soluble gases, e.g. oxides of nitrogen, penetrate more deeply into the conducting airways and, in some cases, may cause pulmonary oedema, often after a time delay. 

TABLE S.S Representative Conducting Airway Dimensions Based on the Weibel A Model... 

Airway surfaces, like skin, are continually exposed to the ambient environment. In contrast to skin submucosal vessels, however, w hich shed excess heat by vasodilating when heated and conserve heat by vasoconstricting when chilled, it is unclear how the airway vasculature responds to temperature extremes. Inspiring cold air poses two challenges to conducting airway tissues the risk of tissue injury should inadequate heat reach the airway surface and excessive body heat loss due to increasing the radial temperature gradient. Vasodilation would protect airway tissue but increase heat loss, while vasoconstriction would produce the opposite effect. 

Airway lumen Opening in conducting airway through which air moves... 

Conducting airways Portion of respiratory tract through which air is trans-... 

Extrathoracic airways The portion of the human conducting airways prox-... 

Mucociliary escalator Mechanism that removes extracellularly-derived materials from the conducting airways by entrapping these materials in mucus that is continuously moved toward the epiglottis by synchronized ciliary movement. 

Periciliary fluid Transepithelial secretion along the conducting airways con-... 

The conducting airways carry out two major functions. The first is to lead inspired air to the more distal gas-exchanging regions of the lungs. The second is to warm and humidify the inspired air as it flows through them. The alveoli are delicate structures and may be damaged by excessive exposure to cold, dry air. 

Alveolar ventilation. Alveolar ventilation is less than the total ventilation because the last portion of each tidal volume remains in the conducting airways therefore, that air does not participate in gas exchange. As mentioned at the beginning of the chapter, the volume of the conducting airways is referred to as anatomical dead space. The calculation of alveolar ventilation includes the tidal volume adjusted for anatomical dead space and includes only air that actually reaches the respiratory zone ... 

Dead space. Anatomical dead space is equal to the volume of the conducting airways. This is determined by the physical characteristics of the lungs because, by definition, these airways do not contain alveoli to participate in gas exchange. Alveolar dead space is the volume of air that enters unperfused alveoli. In other words, these alveoli receive airflow but no blood flow with no blood flow to the alveoli, gas exchange cannot take place. Therefore, alveolar dead space is based on functional considerations rather than anatomical factors. Healthy lungs have little or no alveolar dead space. Various pathological conditions, such as low cardiac output, may result in alveolar dead space. The anatomical dead space combined with the alveolar dead space is referred to as physiological dead space ... 

As explained in the previous section, the P02 of the atmosphere is 160 mmHg. The partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PC02) is negligible (see Table 17.1). As air is inspired, it is warmed and humidified as it flows through the conducting airways. Therefore, water vapor is added to the gas mixture. This is accounted for in the calculation of P02 in the conducting airways ... 

Epithelial cells differ in morphology and function depending on their location. The conducting airways have pseudostratified columnar (type II) epithelial cells which... 

The volume of the conducting airways that does not contain any respiratory epithelium. This stretches from the nasal cavity to the generation 16 terminal bronchioles (ml). 

Two different circulatory systems, the bronchial and the pulmonary, supply the lungs with blood [133], The bronchial circulation is a part of the systemic circulation and is under high pressure. It receives about 1% of the cardiac output and supplies the conducting airways, pulmonary blood vessels and lymph nodes [133], It is important for the distribution of systemically administered drugs to the airways and to the absorption of inhaled drugs from the airways [18]. The pulmonary circulation comprises an extensive low-pressure vascular bed, which receives the entire cardiac output. It perfuses the alveolar capillaries to secure efficient gas exchange and supplies nutrients to the alveolar walls. Anastomoses between bronchial and pulmonary arterial circulations have been found in the walls of medium-sized bronchi and bronchioles [18, 65, 67],... 

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