Respiratory volumes & abnormalities

Physiology Lab experiment
- Respiratory volumes & abnormalities

1. Respiratory Volumes & Abnormalities

Prepared By :

Diaa Mohammad Srahin.

Supervisor : Dr. Amro Adawi .

2. RESPIRATORY VOLUMES & ABNORMALITIES
Introduction
Breathing (inspiration and expiration) occurs in a cyclical manner due to the movements of the
chest wall and the lungs. The resulting changes in pressure, causes changes in lung volumes, i.e.
the amount of air the lungs are capable of occupying. These volumes tend to vary, depending on
the depth of respiration, ethnicity, gender, age and in certain respiratory diseases.
water-seal spirometer , it is a counterweighted bell inverted into a water reservoir; the bell rises
and falls as the person breathes , Its motion moves a pen that records volume data on calibrated
chart paper mounted on a rotating drum (kymograph ) .
Spirometry is the most common of the pulmonary function tests (PFTs), measuring lung function,
specifically the amount (volume) and/or speed (flow) of air that can be inhaled and exhaled .
Spirometry is an important, which are helpful in assessing conditions such as asthma, pulmonary
fibrosis, cystic fibrosis, and COPD.
In our lab, we used the Spirometer , we were able to measure some of pulmonary
volumes and capacities . I will talk about definitions of respiratory volumes and
capacities here .
 Tidal Volume ( TV ): the volume of air moved into or out of the lungs during quiet
breathing , about 500 ml .
 Inspiratory Reserve Volume ( IRV ) : the maximal volume that can be inhaled from the
end-inspiratory level , about 3000 ml .
 Expiratory Reserve Volume ( ERV ) : the maximal volume of air that can be exhaled from
the end-expiratory position , about 1100 ml .
 Residual Volume ( RV ) : the volume of air remaining in the lungs after a maximal
exhalation , about 1200 ml .
 Inspiratory Capacity ( IC ) : the sum of Inspiratory Reserve Volume and Tidal Volume, about
3500 ml , ( IC = TV + IRV ) .
 Vital Capacity (VC) : the total amount of air that can be expired after fully inhaling , about
4600 ml , ( VC = TV + IRV + ERV ) .
 Total Lung Capacity (TLC) : the maximum amount of air that can fill the lungs , about 5800
ml , (TLC = TV + IRV + ERV + RV) .
 Functional Residual Capacity (FRC) : the amount of air remaining in the lungs after a
normal expiration , about 2300 ml , (FRC = RV + ERV) .
Lung volumes capacities can be affected by different factors including: asthma, which is chronic
lung disease that affects airways, in which the bronchial tubes are hypersensitive to many
different irritants including viral infections, air pollution, exercise, allergens and various fumes .

3. Objectives
1. Identify the parts of a spirometer and the way it works .
2. Identify lung volumes and be able to measure some of these volumes
on a “spirometer” .
3. Draw a typical spirometer trace identifying the four primary lung
volumes and lung capacity .
4. To determine the effect of Asthma on pulmonary functions, respiratory
volumes & capacities and compare it by normal breathing .
5. To measure the time of breathing holding after normal breathing &
maximum inspiration & maximum expiration .


FIGURE (1) : Lung volumes and capacities. Pulmonary volumes are given for a normal 70-kg man or
a 50-kg woman, 28 years old.

4. Results
Table(1) : Comparison between TV for Normal Breathing and Asthma





FIGURE (2) : Bar chart display TV for Normal Breathing and Asthma .

Table(2) : Comparison between IRV for Normal Breathing and Asthma












FIGURE (3) : Bar chart display IRV for Normal Breathing and Asthma .
Normal Asthma
TV(Mean±SEM) ( 0.60 ) L ( 0.50 ) L
Normal Asthma
IRV(Mean±SEM) ( 1.99 ) L ( 1.60 ) L
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
Asthma ( mean in Liters)Normal ( mean in Liters)
TV
Asthma ( mean in Liters)
Normal ( mean in Liters)
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
Asthma ( mean in Liters)Normal ( mean in Liters)
IRV
Asthma ( mean in Liters)
Normal ( mean in Liters)

5. Table(3) : Comparison between ERV for Normal Breathing and Asthma




FIGURE (4) : Bar chart display ERV for Normal Breathing and Asthma .

Table(4) : Comparison between VC for Normal Breathing and Asthma




FIGURE (5) : Bar chart display VC for Normal Breathing and Asthma .
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
Asthma ( mean in Liters)Normal ( mean in Liters)
ERV
Asthma ( mean in Liters)
Normal ( mean in Liters)
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
Asthma ( mean in Liters)Normal ( mean in Liters)
VC
Asthma ( mean in Liters)
Normal ( mean in Liters)
Normal Asthma
ERV(Mean±SEM) ( 1.41 ) L ( 1.06 ) L
Normal Asthma
VC(Mean±SEM) ( 3.94 ) L ( 3.1 ) L

6. Table(5) : Comparison between IC for Normal Breathing and Asthma




FIGURE (6) : Bar chart display IC for Normal Breathing and Asthma .

Table(6) : Comparison between Percent Change for Respiratory Volumes
IC VC ERV IRV TV Respiratory Volumes
20.26% 22.03% 25.20% 20.57% 17.86% Percent Change












FIGURE (7) : Bar chart display Percent Change for Respiratory Volumes .
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
Asthma ( mean in Liters)Normal ( mean in Liters)
IC
Asthma ( mean in Liters)
Normal ( mean in Liters)
Normal Asthma
IC(Mean±SEM) ( 2.55 ) L ( 2.07 ) L
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
30.00%
TVIRVERVVCIC
Percent Change for Respiratoy
Volumes
TV
IRV
ERV
VC
IC

7. 0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
70.00%
80.00%
After Deep InspirationAfter Deep Expiration
percent change for Breath Holding
After Deep Inspiration
After Deep Expiration
Table(7) : Comparison between Breath Holding after normal breathing & Deep
Inspiration & Deep Expiration.
Mean (seconds) Breath holding
16.56 After Normal Breathing
27.82 After Deep Inspiration
12.35 After Deep Expiration


FIGURE (8) : Bar chart display Breath Holding after normal breathing & Deep Inspiration & Deep Expiration .

Table(8) : Comparison between Percent Change for Breath Holding
After Deep Expiration After Deep Inspiration After Normal Breathing Breath holding
25.42% 67.99% ***** Percent Change











FIGURE (9) : Bar chart display Percent Change for Breath Holding .
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
After Normal BreathingAfter Deep InspirationAfter Deep Expiration
Breath Holding
After Normal Breathing
After Deep Inspiration
After Deep Expiration

8. Table(9) : P-Value for Normal-Asthma Respiratory volumes
Paired Samples Test ( Analyzing BY SPSS )

Normal - Asthma
Paired Differences
t df
Sig. (2-tailed)
P-Value

Mean
Std.
Deviation
Std.
Error
Mean
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
significant
or not
Lower Upper

Pair 1 TVN - TVA .10100 .13836 .04375 .00202 .19998 2.308 9 .046
sig
Pair 2 IRVN - IRVA .36800 .33279 .10524 .12993 .60607 3.497 9 .007
sig
Pair 3 ERVN - ERVA .31600 .32834 .10383 .08112 .55088 3.043 9 .014
sig
Pair 4 VCN - VCA .77800 .54254 .17157 .38989 1.16611 4.535 9 .001 sig
Pair 5 ICN - ICA .46900 .36958 .11687 .20462 .73338 4.013 9 .003
sig

Table(10) : P-Value for Breath Holding compared with normal
Paired Samples Test ( Analyzing By SPSS)
significant
or not Breath Holding
Paired Differences
t df
Sig. (2-tailed)
P-Value
Mean
Std.
Deviation
Std. Error
Mean
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
Lower Upper
Pair 1 B.H.N - B.H.I -11.26000 12.64843 3.99978 -20.30814 -2.21186 -2.815 9 .020 sig
Pair 2 B.H.N - B.H.E 4.21000 7.15083 2.26129 -.90539 9.32539 1.862 9 .096 not sig

9. Discussion
At the beginning of experiment , we defined the speed for the drum of spirometer on
2.5mm/s, and we accounted that every 3 cm represent 1 L . That helped us in
accounting the respiratory volumes and capacities easily . and size of sample in our
experiment is 10 students
Asthma is characterized by spastic contraction of the smooth muscle in the bronchioles,
which partially obstructs the bronchioles and causes extremely difficult breathing . The
usual cause of asthma is contractile hypersensitivity of the bronchioles in response to
foreign substances in the air as plant pollens , irritants in smog . The typical allergic
person has a tendency to form abnormally large amounts of IgE antibodies, and these
antibodies . specific antigens that have caused them to develop in the first place , In
asthma, these antibodies are mainly attached to mast cells that are present in the lung
interstitium in close association with the bronchioles and small bronchi .When the
asthmatic person breathes in pollen to which he or she is sensitive (that is, to which the
person has developed IgE antibodies), the pollen reacts with the mast cell– attached
antibodies and causes the mast cells to release several different substances. Among
them are histamine, slow-reacting substance of anaphylaxis (which is a mixture of
leukotrienes), eosinophilic chemotactic factor, and bradykinin. The combined effects of
all these factors, especially the slow-reacting substance of anaphylaxis, are to produce
(1) localized edema in the walls of the small bronchioles, as well as secretion of thick
mucus into the bronchiolar lumens, and (2) spasm of the bronchiolar smooth muscle
Therefore, the airway resistance increases greatly , the asthmatic person often can
inspire quite adequately but has great difficulty expiring .

because of these reasons: Both Tidal Volume & Maximum Breathing Capacity will be
less than normal states in asthmatic people and this is exactly what we noticed in our
results . we noticed that the differences in respiratory volumes and capacities were
significant with P-Value less than 0.05 as we mentioned in Table (9) .

The time that person can hold his breath depends on the amount of oxygen in his
blood. And so we expect a longer period of breath holding after deep or maximum
inspiration ,when PO2 decrease in the blood causing the time of breath holding to
decrease; so our results introduced above are correct and expected .

We noticed that the differences in breath holding after normal & after deep inspiration
were significant with P-Value less than 0.05 . by contrast , the differences in breath
holding after normal & after deep expiration were not significant !!!! with P-Value more
than 0.05 as we mentioned in Table (10) . This result may have emerged due to human
error or lack of precision in the use of tools in the experiment .

10. Conclusion
1. The Spirometer can measure the TV, IRV and ERV but can’t measure the RV.

2. Asthma decrease lung volumes (TV, MBC) .


3. percent change differs between Respiratory volumes & capacities .

4. The time of Hold Breathing after maximum inspiration is more than that of
maximum expiration .

5. percent change for Breath Holding after deep inspiration is more than after
deep expiration .


6. The measurements shows that the class reading correlates the normal values
with some measurement errors .







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