Smooth Muscle in the Respiratory Tract (Nursing)

00:00 See that smooth muscle is not under voluntary control.

00:05 Now, all of us kind of have control issues right? but this is completely not under our control.

00:14 Smooth muscle is located throughout your body, it applies pressure to vessels and to organs.

00:20 So it's found in lots of different places and that's what I want to talk to you about.

00:24 Smooth muscle is found in the walls of hollow organs, so some examples, the urinary bladder, the uterus, the stomach, the intestines, it's also in the walls of passageways like arteries and veins in the circulatory system.

00:40 We're talking about the tracts of the respiratory, urinary, and reproductive systems so smooth muscle is everywhere, well that's quite a list of places where it is.

00:52 So we've got smooth muscle everywhere and it's not under voluntary control so it would make sense that it's under some other type of control.

01:02 It's triggered by hormones, is triggered by the stimulation of the autonomic nervous system, the ANS.

01:12 So keep in mind when it says autonomic, that means it's just going by itself right? I don't have control of it and in the case of airways, it's also an inflammatory response.

01:23 So smooth muscle on the airways got it wrapped around, we got it right in the walls, if somebody has a bronchospasm, they're experiencing a very quick, very sudden and very life-threatening feeling of their airways being cut off.

01:37 So that's the role that smooth muscle plays.

01:40 Now when we're specifically focusing on the respiratory tract, we're talking about also an inflammatory response or part of an inflammatory response.

01:48 But I want you to underline the word "hormones" right there.

01:52 Now I just say it that way so it will stick out in your mind.

01:55 Really most normal people would say hormones but we're gonna say hormones just to make it stick in your brain.

02:02 so I want you underline hormones, I want you to underline ANS and inflammatory response.

02:11 So we're thinking about helping patients who have respiratory problems, that's what we're going to do.

02:16 we're gonna make sure that we have all of those things in mind: hormones, autonomic nervous system so it's not under voluntary control and it's an inflammatory response.

02:29 Okay, now this is smooth muscle overdrive.

02:32 The smooth muscle's part of the walls of the airway, we've already laid that down and airway smooth muscle tone is controlled by cholinergic activity.

02:41 Okay, so underline that word "cholinergic".

02:44 Don't worry, we're just gonna be very straightforward, we'll lay it out but it is important that you understand what we mean when we say cholinergic activity because smooth muscles that line the airways suddenly constrict or tighten, the airways become smaller, it's harder and more difficult to breathe, keep in mind cholinergic activity is what controls that.

03:06 Now patient may tell you,"it feels like I can't catch my breath", right, they just feel like they're being, someone has put this giant band around their chest and they can't breathe, so they feel like their chest is tight and they can catch their breath, So owe're talking about smooth muscle in the respiratory system and what it feels like.

03:27 It's also driven by cholinergic activity, so back up to the word cholinergic, if you would make sure that you circle - C, H, O, L, I, N, E, I want you to have circled the word "choline" part of that word.