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Pulmonary Gas Exchange

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Comprehensive Human Physiology

Abstract

In the original sense of the latin word, “respiration” means repeated inhaling and exhaling of air with the associated movements of the thorax. Respiratory movements produce air flow for the transport of O2 into lungs, and of CO2, the end product of oxidative metabolism, out of the lungs. But respiration in today’s meaning includes all the processes involved in the transport of O2 and CO2 between the environment and body tissues, performed by pulmonary ventilation, pulmonary O2 and CO2 exchange, blood circulation, and O2 and CO2 exchange in tissues. Gas exchange in tissues is intimately related to the consumption of O2 and production of CO2 by oxidative tissue metabolism whose main purpose is provision of energy for life processes.

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Authors
  1. J. Piiper
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Physiologisches Institut, Universität Freiburg, Hermann-Herder-Str. 7, 79104, Freiburg, Germany

    Rainer Greger

  2. Faculty of Medicine, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive N.W., T2N 4N1, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    Uwe Windhorst

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© 1996 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Piiper, J. (1996). Pulmonary Gas Exchange. In: Greger, R., Windhorst, U. (eds) Comprehensive Human Physiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-60946-6_102

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-60946-6_102

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-64619-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-60946-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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