Basic Properties of Gases

A.    Dalton's Law of Partial Pressures

1.    partial pressure - the "part" of the total air pressure caused by one component of a gas 

     Gas            Percent            Partial Pressure (P)
    ALL AIR        100.0%                760 mm Hg
    Nitrogen       78.6%                   597 mm Hg    (0.79 X 760)
    Oxygen          20.9%                l59 mm Hg    (0.21 X 760)
    CO₂              0.04%                  0.3 mm Hg    (0.0004 X 760) 

2.    altitude - air pressure @ 10,000 ft = 563 mm Hg
3.    scuba diving - air pressure @ 100 ft = 3000 mm Hg

B.    Henry's Law of Gas Diffusion into Liquid

1.    Henry's Law - a certain gas will diffuse INTO or OUT OF a liquid down its concentration gradient in proportion to its partial pressure

2.    solubility - the ease with which a certain gas will "dissolve" into a liquid (like blood plasma)

HIGHest solubility in plasma            Carbon Dioxide
                                                      Oxygen
                                        
LOWest solubility in plasma             Nitrogen

C.    Hyperbaric (Above normal pressure) Conditions

1.    Creates HIGH gradient for gas entry into the body

2.    therapeutic - oxygen forced into blood during: carbon monoxide poisoning, circulatory shock, asphyxiation, gangrene, tetanus, etc.

3.    harmful - SCUBA divers may suffer the "bends" when they rise too quickly and Nitrogen gas "comes out of solution" and forms bubbles in the blood

Ingestion: Food taken in the mouth is

• ground into finer particles by the teeth,
• moistened and lubricated by saliva (secreted by three pairs of salivary glands)
• small amounts of starch are digested by the amylase present in saliva
• the resulting bolus of food is swallowed into the esophagus and
• carried by peristalsis to the stomach.

Micturition (urination) is a process, by which the final urine is eliminated out of the body .
After being drained into the ureters, urine is stored in urinary bladder until being eliminated.

Bladder is a hollow muscular organ, which has three layers:

- epithelium : Composed of superficial layer of flat cells and deep layer of cuboidal cells.

- muscular layer : contain smooth muscle fibers, that are arranged in longitudinal, spiral and circular pattern . Detrusor  muscle is the main muscle of bladder. The thickening of detrusor muscle forms internal urinary sphinctor which is not an actual urinary sphincter. The actual one is the external urinary sphincter, which is composed of striated muscle and is a part of urogenital diaphragm.

- adventitia: composed of connective tissue fibers.

So: There are two phases of bladder function that depend on characterestics of its muscular wall and innervation :

1. Bladder filling : Urine is poured into bladder through the orifices of ureters. Bladder has five peristaltic contraction per minute . These contraction facilitate moving of urine from the ureter to the bladder as prevent reflux of urine into the ureter.. The capacity of bladder is about  400  ml. But when the bladder start filling its wall extends and thus the pressure is not increased with the increased urine volume.

2. Bladder emptying : When bladder is full stretch receptors in bladder wall are excited , and send signals via the sensory branches of pelvic nerves to the sacral plexus. The first urge to void is felt at a bladder volume of about 150 ml. In sacral portion of spinal cord the sensory signals are integrated and then a motor signal is sent to the urinarry blader muscles through the efferent branches of pelvic nerve itself.

In adult people the neurons in sacral portion could be influenced by nerve signals coming from brain ( Micturition center in pons ) that are also influenced by signals coming from cerebral cortex.

So: The sensory signals ,transmitted to the sacral region will also stimulate ascending pathway and the signals be also transmitted to the micturition center in the brain stem and then to the cerebrum to cause conscious desire for urination.

If micturition is not convenient the brain sends signals to inhibit the parasympathetic motor neuron to the bladder via the sacral neurons. 

It also send inhibitory signal via the somatomotor pudendal nerve to keep external urinary sphincter contracting.

When micturition is convenient a brain signal via the sacral neurons stimulate the parasympathetic pelvic nerve to cause contraction of detruser muscle via M-cholinergic receptors and causes relaxation of external urinary sphincter and the micturition occurs.

Sympathetic hypogastric nerve does not contribute that much to the micturition reflex. It plays role in prvrntion reflux of semen into urinary bladder during ejaculation by contracting bladder muscles.

Membrane Potential

• Membrane potentials will occur across cell membranes if
  • 1) there is a concentration gradient of an ion
  • 2) there is an open channel in the membrane so the ion can move from one side to the other

The Sodium Pump Sets Up Gradients of Na and K Across Cell Membranes

• All cells have the Na pump in their membranes
  • Pumps 3 Nas out and 2 Ks in for each cycle
  • Requires energy from ATP
    • Uses about 30% of body's metabolic energy
  • This is a form of active transport- can pump ions "uphill", from a low to a high concentration
  • This produces concentration gradients of Na & K across the membrane
  • Typical concentration gradients:

•  
• The ion gradients represent stored electrical energy (batteries) that can be tapped to do useful work
• The Na pump is of ancient origin, probably originally designed to protect cell from osmotic swelling

Inhibited by the arrow poisons ouabain and digitalis

PHYSIOLOGY OF THE BRAIN

• The Cerebrum (Telencephalon) Lobes of the cerebral cortex

   

  1. Frontal Lobe
     1. Precentral gyrus, Primary Motor Cortex, point to point motor neurons, pyramidal cells: control motor neurons of the brain and spinal cord. See Motor homunculus
     2. Secondary Motor Cortex repetitive patterns
     3. Broca's Motor Speech area
     4. Anterior - abstract thought, planning, decision making, Personality
  2. Parietal Lobe
     1. Post central gyrus, Sensory cortex, See Sensory homunculus, size proportional to sensory receptor density.
     2. Sensory Association area, memory of sensations
  3. Occipital Lobe
     1. Visual cortex, sight (conscious perception of vision)
     2. Visual Association area, correlates visual images with previous images, (memory of vision, )
  4. Temporal Lobe
     1. Auditory Cortex, sound
     2. Auditory Association area, memory of sounds
  5. Common Integratory Center - angular gyrus, Parietal, Temporal & Occipital lobes
     1. One side becomes dominent, integrats sensory (somesthetic, auditory, visual) information
  6. The Basal nuclei (ganglia)
     1. Grey matter (cell bodies) within the White matter of cerebrum, control voluntary movements
  7. Cauadate nucles - chorea (rapi, uncontrolled movements), Parkinsons: (dopamine neurons of substantia nigra to caudate nucles) jerky movements, spasticity, tremor, blank facial expression
  8. The limbic system - ring around the brain stem, emotions(w/hypothalamus), processing of olfactory information

• The Diencephalon

   

  1. The Thalamus - Sensory relay center to cortex (primitive brain!)
  2. The Hypothalamus
     1. core temperature control"thermostat", shivering and nonshivering thermogenesis
     2. hunger & satiety centers, wakefulness, sleep, sexual arousal,
     3. emotions (w/limbic-anger, fear, pain, pleasure), osmoregulation, (ADH secretion),
     4. Secretion of ADH, Oxytocin, Releasing Hormones for Anterior pitutary
     5. Linkage of nervous and endocrine systems

• The Mesencephalon or Midbrain -

   

  1. red nucleus, motor coordination (cerebellum/Motor cortex),
  2. substantia nigra
• The Metencephalon
  1. The Cerebellum -
     1. Performs automatic adjustments in complex motor activities
     2. Input from Proprioceptors (joint, tendon, muscles), position of body in Space
        1. Motor cortex, intended movements (changes in position of body in Space)
     3. Damping (breaking motor function), Balance, predicting, inhibitory function of Purkinji cells (GABA), speed, force, direction of movement
  2. The Pons - Respiratory control centers (apneustic, pneumotaxic)
     1. Nuclei of cranial nerves V, VI, VII, VIII

• Myelencephalon

   

  1. The Medulla
     1. Visceral motor centers (vasomotor, cardioinhibtory, respiratory)
     2. Reticular Formation RAS system, alert cortex to incoming signals, maintenance of consciousness, arousal from sleep
     3. All Afferent & Efferent fibers pass through, crossing over of motor tracts
  2. Corpus Callosum: Permits communication between cerebralhemispheres
• Generalized Brain Avtivity
  1. Brain Activity and the Electroencephalogram(EEG)
     1. alpha waves: resting adults whose eyes are closed
     2. beta waves: adults concentrating on a specific task;
     3. theta waves: adults under stress;
     4. delta waves: during deep sleep and in clinical disorders
  2. Brain Seizures
     1. Grand Mal: generalized seizures, involvs gross motor activity, affects the individual for a matter or hours
     2. Petit mal: brief incidents, affect consciousness but may have no obvious motor abnormalities
  3. Chemical Effects on the Brain
     1. Sedatives: reduce CNS activity
     2. Analgesics: relieve pain by affecting pain pathways or peripheral sensations
     3. Psychotropics: alter mood and emotional states
     4. Anticonvulsants: control seizures
     5. Stimulants: facilitate CNS activity
  4. Memory and learning
     1. Short-term, or primary, memories last a short time, immediately accessible (phone number)
     2. Secondary memories fade with time (your address at age 5)
     3. Tertiary memories last a lifetime (your name)
     4. Memories are stored within specific regions of the cerebral cortex.
     5. Learning, a more complex process involving the integration of memories and their use to direct or modify behaviors
     6. Neural basis for memory and learning has yet to be determined.
• Fibers in CNS
  1. Association fibers: link portions of the cerebrum;
  2. Commissural fibers: link the two hemispheres;
  3. Projection fibers: link the cerebrum to the brain stem

Conductivity :

 Means ability of cardiac muscle to propagate electrical impulses through the entire heart ( from one part of the heart to another)  by the excitatory -conductive system of the heart.
 
Excitatory conductive system of the heart involves:

1. Sinoatrial node ( SA node) : Here the initial impulses start and then conducted to the atria through  the anterior inter-atrial pathway ( to the left atrium) , to the atrial muscle mass through the gap junction, and to the Atrioventricular node ( AV node ) through anterior, middle , and posterior inter-nodal pathways.
The average conductive velocity in the atria is 1m/s.

2- AV node : The electrical impulses can not be conducted directly from the atria to the ventricles , because of the  fibrous skeleton , which is an electrical isolator , located between the atria and ventricles. So the only conductive way is the AV node . But there is a delay in the conduction occurs in the AV node .
This delay is due to:
- the smaller size of the nodal fiber.
- The less negative resting membrane potential
- fewer gap junctions.

There are three sites for delay:
- In the transitional fibers , that connect inter-nodal pathways with the AV node ( 0.03 ) .
- AV node itself ( 0.09 s) .
- In the penetrating portion of Bundle of Hiss ( 0.04 s)  .
This delay actually allows atria to empty blood in ventricles during the cardiac cycle before the beginning of ventricular contraction  , as it prevents the ventricles from the pathological high atrial rhythm.
The average velocity of conduction in the AV node is 0.02-0.05 m/s

3- Bundle of Hiss : A continuous with the AV node that passes to the ventricles through the inter-ventricular septum. It is subdivided into : Right and left bundle. The left bundle is also subdivided into two branches: anterior and posterior branches .

4- Purkinje`s fibers: large fibers with velocity of conduction 1.5-4 m/s.
the high velocity of these fibers is due to the abundant gap junctions , and to their nature as very large fibers as well.
The conduction from AV node is a one-way conduction . This prevents the re-entry of cardiac impulses from the ventricles to the atria.
Lastly: The conduction through the ventricular fibers has a velocity of 0.3-0.5 m/s.

Factors , affecting conductivity ( dromotropism)  :

I. Positive dromotropic factors :

1. Sympathetic stimulation : it accelerates conduction and decrease AV delay .
2. Mild warming
3. mild hyperkalemia
4. mild ischemia
5. alkalosis

II. Negative dromotropic factors :

1. Parasympathetic stimulation
2. severe warming
3. cooling
4. Severe hyperkalemia
5. hypokalemia
6. Severe ischemia
7. acidosis
8. digitalis drugs.