Welcome. Thanks for joining me today. In this lecture, we will begin our exploration of medical terminology as it relates to the respiratory system. Let's get started. The respiratory system is made up of your lungs and airways and is responsible for breathing. This allows oxygen into the blood and removes carbon dioxide. The branch of medicine that specializes in the respiratory system is called pulmonology. Let's begin by looking at the basic purposes and anatomy of the respiratory system. The process of respiration consists of two parts: inspiration or breathing in and expiration or breathing out. Inspiration is an active process, meaning it requires energy to do so. The energy is needed to help the muscles of respiration contract and expand the thoracic cavity and rib cage, dragging the lungs along with them. Expiration under normal conditions is a passive process. No energy is required. Expiration is accomplished when the muscles of respiration relax and the lungs recoiled to their original resting size, thus forcing air out. Speaking of active inspiration, the main muscle responsible for respiration is the diaphragm. This dome shaped muscle lies just below the lungs. It compresses the abdominal cavity or your squishy guts when it contracts, pulling the lungs downward as they expand during inhalation. During exhalation, the diaphragm relaxes and resumes its dome shape as it moves upward and the lungs recoil to their smaller size, forcing air out. Although the spelling looks like diaphragm it's actually diaphragm. The diaphragm is funner to say. When we think about the anatomy of the respiratory system, it can be subdivided into two main parts: the upper respiratory tract and the lower respiratory tract. Perhaps you or someone you know, has been diagnosed with an upper respiratory tract infection. The upper respiratory tract consists of the nose, pharynx or throat, and the larynx or voice box. They are indicated by the arrows here in that order from most superior to inferior. We will continue by looking at each component of the upper respiratory tract in more detail. Up first, the nose. You probably already know that you have two holes going into your nose. Hopefully not because you've stuck your finger up there. The holes are commonly called nostrils, but the medical term is nare or nares. The septum is the divider between the two nares. The turbinates are folds that actually helps circulate and swirl the air as it moves through the nose to warm, humidify, and clean the air before it moves further into the respiratory system. And the hairs, well, they help trap dirt and debris. That trapped dirt and debris combines with mucus to become... You guessed it, boogers. Did you know that cleaning your nose responsibly, (Not like this.) is a great way to stay healthy? So clean your nose, at home, alone, with a tissue, and then wash your hands. Fun fact. Did you know that dogs don't have nose hairs like we do? I think that's why they don't have boogers. There's nothing to trap the dirt and debris to form them. Just goes right on up in there. That's probably a good thing because I had zero luck trying to teach my dog to use a tissue for responsible booger removal. Moving along. In the respiratory system, the pharynx or throat is next. The pharynx can be further subdivided into the nasopharynx, oropharynx, and laryngopharynx. You might recognize the additional roots describing the portion of the throat closest to the nose, mouth, and voice box, respectively. And you would be correct. High five, you! From the upper respiratory tract, the air continues down into the lower respiratory tract. The trachea, or windpipe, marks the first part of this subdivision. From there the trachea divides into the right and left main bronchi going to the right and left lungs respectively. The bronchi further divide into lobar bronchi to each lobe of the lung and continue to divide into smaller and smaller airways known as segmental bronchi and finally bronchioles. The final destination for air and the respiratory tract are the alveoli. The alveoli are air sacs where gas exchange between the lungs and blood occurs. They are thin, delicate structures covered in capillaries to facilitate the exchange of oxygen and gasses through simple diffusion. The small circles at the end of the airways are alveoli. One alveolus is indicated by the arrow here. And now for a 10 second brain break. Doesn't that feel better back to the fun. For the next part, we will begin looking at new roots pertaining to the respiratory system. The first new roots related to the respiratory system are nas/o and rhin/o. They both mean nozzle. Just kidding. They just mean nose. The rhino pictured here is named for the horn on its nose. Rhinoceros combines the root rhin/o or nose with ceros, the Greek word for horn. More fun party trivia. I don't get out a lot. Pharyng/o is the word root for the pharynx or throat. When you get an inflamed throat, we call it pharyngitis. You just call it sore. Laryng/o is the word root for the larynx or voice box. Perhaps you've heard this term in the disorder laryngitis. Laryngitis is an inflammation of the larynx that causes you to lose your voice. I used to get laryngitis annually for a few days each year. It was like a holiday for my husband and kids. What mom, you want me to do what? Sorry, I couldn't hear you. Or my husband: Honey, I love you so much. Let's spend hours talking about our feelings. Wait, you have laryngitis? Too bad. Our next new root is trache/o. It means trachea or the wind pipe. The recorder shown here is another type of wind pipe, but not a trachea. You should never drill holes in the trachea to change pitch. However, you can hear the root in the word tracheotomy, which is an incision into the wind pipe to create an artificial airway. But Just one hole will do. A sinus is a hollow space designated by the roots sin/o or sinus/o. Most of us are aware of our sinuses when they become clogged with congestion and cause what is commonly called a sinus headache. But did you also know that they serve as your own built in acoustics? Have you ever heard yourself on a recording and thought that's not what I sound like. Or do you, like me, hate the sound of your voice on tape or video? Your sinuses serve as built in acoustics, making you think you sound great when in reality you really might sound more like this. Pneum/o, pneumat/o, and pneumon/o all mean lung or air. Obviously the P is silent otherwise it would be pneum/o, pneumat/o, and pneumon/o. You can hear them in the words pneumonia, which is a lung disease, and pneumatic like pneumatic tires which are filled with air. Our next word root is pulmon/o, meaning lung. You can clearly hear it in the word pulmonologist, which is of course a specialist in the respiratory system. Recall that the trachea subdivides into a right and left bronchi, which supply air to the right and left lung, respectively. The word roots bronch/o and bronchi/o both mean bronchi. Most of us have probably had bronchitis at some point. Now, you know that it means an inflammation of the bronchi. As the bronchi continue to divide they become little bronchi or bronchioles. The word root for bronchial is bronchiol/o. I know, good luck memorizing that one. The smallest part of the respiratory system, the alveoli are the sites of gas exchange between the lungs and the blood. Alveol/o is the word root for alveoli. These new word roots both pertain to the portion of the skeletal system, which protects the respiratory system. Stern/o and cost/o means sternum and ribs, respectively. The sternum is the bone in the front of the rib cage which connects both sides. Somebody should really feed this patient. They're all bones. >> [LAUGH] >> Thorac/o, pector/o, and steth/o all mean chest. You can see them as pictured here by the stethoscope, listening to the lungs and the thoracic cavity. The term breathe has a new word root and a new suffix. Spir/o and -pnea both mean breathe. You will sometimes hear the P pronounced in terms like dyspnea. A spirometer is a device used to assess the strength of your breathing muscles. Ox/o means oxygen while capn/o and carb/o means carbon dioxide. These gasses are the driving force behind the need for a respiratory system, so it would only make sense that they get their own roots. Finally, here are a few other word roots you should know. Adenoid/o means adenoid, lob/o means lobe, pleur/o means pleura, and phren/o means diaphragm. As with all good things this lecture too must come to an end. Thanks for exploring introductory terms and roots related to the respiratory system with me. See you next time.
