Abstract
The respiratory gas transport systems of avian embryos and lungless salamanders show common features, but substantial differences from that of adult mammals or birds.
The role of ventilation in limiting gas exchange in adult mammals and birds is functionally replaced by the diffusive resistance of the egg shell pores and of the skin epithelium, respectively. However, due to differing diffusion media, air in egg shell pores and tissue in salamander skin, the CO2-O2 relationships in arterialized blood differ considerably.
By sizeable admixture of venous blood, due to the arrangement of the large blood vessels, the ‘arterial’ blood (i.e. blood perfusing the tissues) is markedly different from the ‘arterialized’ blood leaving the gas exchange organ. Gas exchange organ blood flow is different from (lower than) the systemic blood flow. With respect to blood circulation, the gas exchange organ and the body tissues are arranged essentially in parallel (not in series as in adult mammals and birds). The ‘cardiac output’, which essentially is equal to the sum of total systemic and gas exchange organ flows, is functionally comparable to double the ‘cardiac output’ in the sense used in mammalian and human physiology.
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© 1984 Dr W. Junk Publishers, Dordrecht
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Piiper, J., Scheid, P. (1984). Respiratory gas transport system: similarities between avian embryos and lungless salamanders. In: Seymour, R.S. (eds) Respiration and metabolism of embryonic vertebrates. Perspectives in vertebrate science, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-6536-2_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-6536-2_12
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