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A novel accessory respiratory muscle in the American alligator ( Alligator mississippiensis).

ABSTRACT: The muscles that effect lung ventilation are key to understanding the evolutionary constraints on animal form and function. Here, through electromyography, we demonstrate a newly discovered respiratory function for the iliocostalis muscle in the American alligator ( Alligator mississippiensis). The iliocostalis is active during expiration when breathing on land at 28°C and this activity is mediated through the uncinate processes on the vertebral ribs. There was also an increase in muscle activity during the forced expirations of alarm distress vocalizations. Interestingly, we did not find any respiratory activity in the iliocostalis when the alligators were breathing with their body submerged in water at 18°C, which resulted in a reduced breathing frequency. The iliocostalis is an accessory breathing muscle that alligators are able to recruit in to assist expiration under certain conditions.

SUBMITTER: Codd JR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6684976 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A novel accessory respiratory muscle in the American alligator ( Alligator mississippiensis).

Codd Jonathan R JR Rose Kayleigh A R KAR Tickle Peter G PG Sellers William I WI Brocklehurst Robert J RJ Elsey Ruth M RM Crossley Dane A DA

Biology letters 20190703 7

The muscles that effect lung ventilation are key to understanding the evolutionary constraints on animal form and function. Here, through electromyography, we demonstrate a newly discovered respiratory function for the iliocostalis muscle in the American alligator ( Alligator mississippiensis). The iliocostalis is active during expiration when breathing on land at 28°C and this activity is mediated through the uncinate processes on the vertebral ribs. There was also an increase in muscle activit ...[more]

PMID: 31266420

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Project description:All embryonic and fetal amniotes possess a ductus(i) arteriosus(i) that allows blood to bypass the pulmonary circulation and the non-functional lungs. The central hemodynamic of embryonic reptiles are unique, given the additional systemic aorta that allows pulmonary circulatory bypass, the left aorta (LAo). The LAo exits in the right ventricle or 'pulmonary side' of reptilian hearts in both embryos and adults, but its functional significance in ovo is unknown. This study investigated the role of the LAo in embryonic American alligators by surgically occluding the LAo and measuring oxygen consumption and, in addition, measured hemodynamic responses to hypoxia in embryonic alligators. We measured systemic cardiac output and primary chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) artery blood flow for normoxic and hypoxic-incubated (10% O(2)) American alligator embryos (Alligator mississippiensis). Chronic blood flow (1-124 h) in the primary CAM artery for hypoxic-incubated embryos (92 ± 26 ml min(-1) kg(-1)) was elevated when compared with normoxic-incubated embryos (29 ± 14 ml min(-1) kg(-1), N = 6; P = 0.039). For hypoxic-incubated embryos, acute LAo blood flow (49.6 ± 24.4 ml min(-1) kg(-1)) was equivalent to the combined flow of the three systemic great vessels that arise from the left ventricle, the right aorta, common carotid and subclavian arteries (43.6 ± 21.5 ml min(-1) kg(-1), N = 5). Similarly, for normoxic-incubated embryos, LAo blood flow (27.3 ± 6.6 ml min(-1) kg(-1)) did not statistically differ from the other three vessels (18.4 ± 4.9 ml min(-1) kg(-1), N = 5). This study contains the first direct test of LAo function and the first measurements of blood flow in an embryonic reptile. These data support the hypotheses that embryonic alligators utilize the LAo to divert a significant amount of right ventricular blood into the systemic circulation, and that CAM blood flow increases following chronic hypoxic conditions. However, surgical occlusion of the LAo did not affect egg V(O) ? supporting the hypothesis that the LAo of reptiles is not critical to maintain in ovo oxygen consumption.

Dataset Information

A novel accessory respiratory muscle in the American alligator ( Alligator mississippiensis).

Publications

A novel accessory respiratory muscle in the American alligator ( Alligator mississippiensis).

Similar Datasets

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