Ch 30: Respiratory System for the MCAT: Tutoring Solution
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- Begin your review or other MCAT preparation work.
- Identify the respiratory system concepts that you're stuck on.
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- Press play, watch and learn!
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This chapter of our MCAT prep tutoring solution will benefit any student who is trying to review the respiratory system and earn acceptable scores. This resource can help students including those who:
- Struggle with understanding gas transport, autonomic breathing, function of pleural cavities and membranes, or any other respiratory system topic
- Have limited time for studying
- Want a cost effective way to supplement their MCAT preparation
- Prefer learning MCAT topics visually
- Find themselves struggling with the respiratory system portion of their review
- Cope with ADD or ADHD
- Want to get ahead in their MCAT preparation
- Don't have access to MCAT review materials
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- Learn at Your Pace: You can pause and rewatch lessons as often as you'd like, until you master the material.
Learning objectives:
- Review the gross anatomy of the airway and lungs.
- Learn how the pleural cavities and membranes function.
- Find out how ventilation muscles cause inspiration and expiration.
- See how the respiratory membrane makes for efficient gas exchange.
- Explore pulmonary surfactant function and ventilation.
- Learn about diffusion and partial pressure gradients.
- Find out how oxygen and carbon dioxide get into and out of blood.
- Examine the process of gas transport.
- Explore how ventilation is regulated.
- Learn about pulmonary function tests.

1. Gross Anatomy of the Airway and Lungs: Conducting & Respiratory Zones
The respiratory system ensures the body has sufficient oxygen while removing carbon dioxide. Learn about the gross anatomy of the airway and lungs, including the upper and lower respiratory system, and explore the conducting and respiratory zones by reviewing air movement and gas exchange in the respiratory zones.

2. Function of Pleural Cavities and Pleural Membranes
The pleural cavities of the lungs are lined by the pleural membranes which secrete a lubricating fluid allowing lungs to move freely when breathing. Learn about the pleural cavities and membranes, transpulmonary pressure, and the pneumothorax.

3. How Ventilation Muscles Cause Inspiration and Expiration
Inspiration and expiration are the processes of ventilation, which is how air enters and exits the lungs. Learn about ventilation muscles and how they cause inspiration and expiration, explore Boyle's Law, and the definitions of quiet ventilation and forced ventilation.

4. The Respiratory Surface and Gas Exchange Efficiency
Gas exchange efficiency occurs due to a thin respiratory surface or membrane that contains many alveoli cells. Learn about the respiratory surface and factors that make gas exchange efficient, as well as how gases are lipid-soluble.

5. Pulmonary Surfactant Function and Ventilation
A thin membrane of fluid encloses the lungs and this membrane helps the lungs in their ventilation function through surface tension produced by the water molecules. Learn about the function of water molecules in ventilation of the lungs, the role of pulmonary surfactants, and the process of respiration.

6. Gas Exchange: Diffusion & Partial Pressure Gradients
Using diffusion and partial pressure, gas exchange, the process of moving oxygen from the air into the blood across a respiratory membrane, is necessary for normal function. Explore the way gas exchange happens, partial pressure gradients, the composition of alveolar air, Dalton's law, and Henry's law.

7. External and Internal Respiration in the Lungs: Definition & Process
External respiration is gas exchange in the lungs while internal respiration in the lungs occurs in the metabolizing tissues. This lesson looks at the definition and process of respiration, external respiration, and internal respiration.

8. Gas Transport: Oxygen and Hemoglobin
Hemoglobin, found in red blood cells, plays a key role in transporting oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. Explore how the oxygen transportation process occurs, and review how hemoglobin is loaded in the lungs and unloaded in metabolizing tissue.

9. Gas Transport: Cooperative Binding of Oxygen with Hemoglobin
Gas transport is how cells in the body receive oxygen through the cooperative binding of oxygen with hemoglobin. Explore hemoglobin, oxygen-hemoglobin saturation curve, cooperative binding of hemoglobin, and hemoglobin saturation.

10. Gas Transport: Effect of Temperature, pH & Metabolism
Hemoglobin transports most of the oxygen in the lungs to the metabolizing tissues; however, various factors like increased temperature, acid, pH, 2,3-BPG, or carbon dioxide can decrease the oxygen hemoglobin is capable of transporting. Learn about gas transport, metabolism, the Bohr Effect, the role of hemoglobin in oxygen transport, and the effect of temperature on hemoglobin.

11. Carbon Dioxide Transport in the Blood
Carbon dioxide is transported in the blood in two different forms, bicarbonate and carbaminohemoglobin. In this lesson, dive into carbon dioxide transportation in the blood, in the lungs, and in metabolizing tissues.

12. Autonomic Breathing: How Ventilation is Regulated
The body's ventilation, or breathing, is controlled by the central nervous system. Learn about autonomic breathing and understand how it is regulated. Explore homeostasis, hypercapnia, hypoxia, central and peripheral chemoreceptors, and review what happens when ventilation goes bad.

13. What Are Pulmonary Function Tests?
Pulmonary function tests measure the movement of air in and out of the lungs. Learn about common pulmonary function tests, including spirometry and spirogram, and explore breathing disorders. Review inspiration, expiration, tidal volume, vital capacity, residual volume, and total lung capacity.

14. Cilia in Cells: Definition, Functions & Structure
Cilia in cells are whip-like organelles that sense a cell's environment and provide locomotion. Learn how to define cilia, identify the different types of cilia and their structure, and determine the functions of cilia in cells.
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