Take a deep breath. Your diaphragm is contracting downward increasing your intrathoracic volume with a resulting decrease in pressure according to Boyle’s Law. This new pressure is less than that of atmospheric pressure (“negative intrathoracic pressure”), so a gradient is created driving air into your lungs.
Ask young physicians why patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) tend to retain CO2 (hypercapnia) when given oxygen therapy. I bet the majority will claim that supplemental oxygen depresses one’s “hypoxic drive” to breathe. In other words, if our oxygen levels are super high, the body will invest less energy in breathing, resulting in…
Cystic fibrosis and α1-antitrypsin deficiency are the two most common inherited lung diseases, and both of them happen to be caused by a known, single gene mutation. A study conducted at Boston University’s School of Medicine and recently published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation describes a protocol in which gene therapy…
Today, we explored the incredibly unique structure of the lungs. Most of the tissues we’ve dealt with so far have been rather dense and/or fibrous, but the lungs presented us with far more spongy and pliable dissection. Since the rib cage had already been removed for the heart dissection, the lungs…