Physiology, Respiratory Rate

Excerpt

Respiration is a vital process for the normal function at every level of organization from a cell to an organism; oxygen, supplied by local circulation at the tissue level, functions at the mitochondrial internal membrane as an essential mediator for the energy release. In mitochondria, digested nutrients undergo metabolic reactions, end up at the level of the electron transport chain, and release high-energy compounds (ATP). The main byproduct of this process, carbon dioxide, gets released in the venous blood returning to the lungs. Carbon dioxide diffuses through alveolar walls and dissolves in the exhaled amount of air. The respiratory rate, i.e., the number of breaths per minute, is highly regulated to enable cells to produce the optimum amount of energy at any given occasion. A complex nervous system of nerve tissues regulates the rate of oxygen inflow and carbon dioxide outflow. It adjusts it accordingly in conditions that tend to derange partial gas pressures in blood. Respiration is a process involving the brain, brainstem, respiratory muscles, lungs, airways, and blood vessels. All these structures have involvement structurally, functionally, and regulatory to respiration.