S12 Respiration – Apnea

In Respiration 1, students observe physiologic modifications of the respiratory cycle associated with voluntarily increasing and decreasing blood carbon dioxide content by holding breath and hyperventilating. Students will qualitatively determine changes in respiratory minute volume by recording and analyzing EMGs from respiratory muscles of the thorax.

• National Science Education Standards Correlation

Experimental Objectives

1. To observe and record EMGs from thoracic respiratory skeletal muscle during eupnea, or normal unlabored breathing at rest.
2. To record changes in the EMG associated with modifications in the rate and depth of the respiratory cycle that occur before, during, and after periods of apnea vera and voluntary apnea and to compare those changes to eupnea.

Tasks Performed by the Student

• Record EMG and respiration.
• Breathe normally with mouth open.
• Hyperventilate.
• Recover from hyperventilation.
• Hold breath.
• Hyperventilate and then hold breath.

Student Prep & Distance Learning

Click the link(s) below for sample data and/or lesson procedure video(s), BSL PRO Lesson procedures (PDF) for human lessons*, and graph template files (*.gtl) for BSL PRO Lessons. If more than one .gtl is available, download the .gtl with the _suffix to match BSL version and hardware.

• Biopac Science Lab Lesson S12 (review copy)

Lesson Hardware

This lesson requires a Biopac Science Lab (MP40) System and the following hardware. If your BScL System does not include all hardware items, expand your system by selecting required items below.