Internal Respiration
The metabolic processes whereby certain organisms obtain energy from organic moelcules; processes that take place in the cells and tissues during which energy is released and carbon dioxide is produced and absorbed by the blood to be transported to the lungs.
The body tissues need the oxygen and have to get rid of the carbon dioxide, so the blood carried throughout the body exchanges oxygen and carbon dioxide with the body's tissues. Internal respirtaion is basically the exchange of gasses between the blood in the capillaries and the body's cells.
Energy needed by cells is liberated (in the form of ATP) from fuel molecules by a complex series of catabolic reactions referred to as cellular respiration. These reactions include the glycolysis (conversion of glucose to pyruvate), citric acid cycle or Krebs cycle (oxidation of acetate to carbon dioxide), ß -oxidation of fatty acids and the electron transport system (transport of electrons to oxygen yielding water).
