Talk:Lung

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 This article has been reviewed by the Version 1.0 Editorial Team.

Contents

[edit] Tidal volume, capacity, vandalism

What is the difference between capacity and tidal volume of the lung? The article claims they differ by a factor of 10. AxelBoldt 16:07, 14 Oct 2003 (UTC)

The space the lung uses for inhalation of air is just a fraction (is called the tidal volume) of the space that is availible in the lung (capacity of the lung). —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 213.93.136.84 (talk • contribs) 16:19, 15 November 2004 (UTC)
True for Mammalian lungs, but not for Avian lungs, as far as the article Bird tells me. Speaking of which, should we describe the lungs of other classes here? Amphibia, Aves, Reptilia? -Wikibob | Talk 13:23, 2005 Mar 29 (UTC)
They used to be described here, the avian ones at least, but seem to have vanished. I don't have the time right now to sleuth through the article history in detail to find out why, but I've added a link for the avian one now and the others should at least be mentioned too. Bryan 16:27, 29 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I've restored the missing Avian and Amphibian sections.

The loss occurred between

(vandalism was only partially repaired).

Subsequent minor vanadalism had been correctly repaired, and I found no more losses. The Reptilian section was originally empty, and I didn't look further back than July 2004.

After restoration as a check I took this bookmark of the difference between the restored version and Solitude's Revision as of 11:05, 2004 Oct 28.

I will soon move Bryan's Avian section to the restored section as a summary (if my laptop doesn't crash again).

Finally here are the sections I've restored -Wikibob | Talk 00:47, 2005 Mar 30 (UTC) :

[edit] Human lungs

See human lung.

[edit] Avian lungs

Birds have a significantly different structure to their lungs than mammals do. In addition to the lungs themselves, birds have posterior and anterior air sacs (typically nine) which control air flow through the lungs, but do not play a direct role in gas exchange. They have a flow through respiration system.

When a bird inhales, air flows in through the trachea to the posterior air sacs, while air currently within the lungs flows into the anterior air sacs. When the bird exhales, the fresh air now contained within the posterior air sacs is driven into the lungs, and the stale air now contained within the anterior air sacs is expelled through the trachea and into the atmosphere. Two complete cycles of inhalation and exhalation are, therefore, required for one breath of air to make its way through the avian respiratory system.

Avian lungs do not have alveoli, as mammalian lungs do, but instead contain millions of tiny passages known as parabronchi, connected at either ends by the dorsobronchi and ventrobronchi. Air flows through the honeycombed walls of the parabronchi and into air capillaries, where oxygen and carbon-dioxide are traded with cross-flowing blood capillaries by diffusion, a process of crosscurrent exchange.

The purpose of this complex system of air sacs is to ensure that the airflow through the avian lung is always traveling in the same direction - posterior to anterior. This is in contrast to the mammalian system, in which the direction of airflow in the lung is tidal, reversing between inhalation and exhalation. By utilizing a unidirectional flow of air, avian lungs are able to extract a greater concentration of oxygen from inhaled air. Birds are thus equipped to fly at altitudes at which mammals would succumb to hypoxia.

[edit] Reptilian lungs

[edit] Amphibian lungs

The lungs of most frogs and other amphibians are simple balloon-like structures, with gas exchange limited to the outer surface area of the lung. This is not a very efficient arrangement, but amphibians have low metabolic demands and also frequently supplement their oxygen supply by diffusion across the moist outer skin of their bodies.

[edit] Lights

Should a mention of Lungs used in food be mentioned in this article?--Wynler | Talk 20:02, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

Of course! Got a reference? Melchoir 04:50, 19 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Nonrespiratory functions

Another nonrespiratory function is to filter out gas microbubbles occuring in the blood stream during Scuba diving Decompression stop. I think it is worth adding.Michagal 16:09, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Circular redirect

There is a reference and link to circulatory lungs in the Avian Lungs section, but it redirects to Lungs --Anidnmeno 22:01, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for catching that! I've fixed it. But you can edit the page, too, you know, it's only locked from IP's and accounts less than four days old. delldot talk 22:34, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] History of the study of the lungs?

A good addition to this article would be a section on the history of the study of lungs. LinaMishima (talk) 20:02, 28 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Invertibrate lungs???

The first sentence of this article implies that only vertibrates have lungs. Snail says that some kinds of snails have lungs. This needs to be clarified and/or corrected. -- RoySmith (talk) 22:13, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Quite correct, Roy. There are a group of air breathing snails called the pulmonata who have lungs. So who's going to change the article? 122.105.84.37 (talk) 00:12, 7 April 2008 (UTC)