BiologyCode 9700
The gas exchange system
What this topic asks you to be able to do
- describe how the human gas exchange system is built, limited to: the trachea, bronchi, bronchioles and alveoli, the capillary network and the lungs
- describe where cartilage, ciliated epithelium, goblet cells, squamous epithelium of alveoli, smooth muscle and capillaries are found within the gas exchange system
- recognise, on microscope slides, photomicrographs and electron micrographs, cartilage, ciliated epithelium, goblet cells, squamous epithelium of alveoli, smooth muscle and capillaries
- recognise alveoli, bronchioles, bronchi and trachea in electron micrographs, photomicrographs and microscope slides, and draw plan diagrams of the trachea wall and the bronchus wall as seen in transverse section
- describe how mucous glands, goblet cells and ciliated epithelial cells keep the gas exchange system healthy
- describe the functions of squamous epithelium, elastic fibres, smooth muscle and cartilage within the gas exchange system
- describe how gas exchange takes place between the blood in the capillaries and the air in the alveoli