scholarly journals Cardiovascular Physiology of Dinosaurs

Physiology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 430-441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger S. Seymour
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Blood Flow ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Metabolic Rate ◽  
Flow Rate ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Blood Flow Rate ◽  
Cardiovascular Physiology ◽  
Arterial Blood ◽  
Heart Size

Cardiovascular function in dinosaurs can be inferred from fossil evidence with knowledge of how metabolic rate, blood flow rate, blood pressure, and heart size are related to body size in living animals. Skeletal stature and nutrient foramen size in fossil femora provide direct evidence of a high arterial blood pressure, a large four-chambered heart, a high aerobic metabolic rate, and intense locomotion. But was the heart of a huge, long-necked sauropod dinosaur able to pump blood up 9 m to its head?

scholarly journals Raising the sauropod neck: it costs more to get less

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 317-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger S. Seymour
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Blood Flow ◽  
Metabolic Rate ◽  
Arterial Blood Pressure ◽  
Flow Rate ◽  
Energy Cost ◽  
Blood Flow Rate ◽  
Work Rate ◽  
Cardiac Work ◽  
Arterial Blood

The long necks of gigantic sauropod dinosaurs are commonly assumed to have been used for high browsing to obtain enough food. However, this analysis questions whether such a posture was reasonable from the standpoint of energetics. The energy cost of circulating the blood can be estimated accurately from two physiological axioms that relate metabolic rate, blood flow rate and arterial blood pressure: (i) metabolic rate is proportional to blood flow rate and (ii) cardiac work rate is proportional to the product of blood flow rate and blood pressure. The analysis shows that it would have required the animal to expend approximately half of its energy intake just to circulate the blood, primarily because a vertical neck would have required a high systemic arterial blood pressure. It is therefore energetically more feasible to have used a more or less horizontal neck to enable wide browsing while keeping blood pressure low.

Nocturnal variations in peripheral blood flow, systemic blood pressure, and heart rate in humans

1991 ◽  
Vol 261 (4) ◽  
pp. H982-H988
Author(s):  
J. H. Sindrup ◽  
J. Kastrup ◽  
H. Christensen ◽  
B. Jorgensen
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Heart Rate ◽  
Blood Flow ◽  
Arterial Blood Pressure ◽  
Flow Rate ◽  
Mean Arterial Blood Pressure ◽  
Blood Flow Rate ◽  
Tissue Blood Flow ◽  
Peripheral Blood Flow ◽  
Arterial Blood

Subcutaneous adipose tissue blood flow rate, together with systemic arterial blood pressure and heart rate under ambulatory conditions, was measured in the lower legs of 15 normal human subjects for 12-20 h. The 133Xe-washout technique, portable CdTe(Cl) detectors, and a portable data storage unit were used for measurement of blood flow rates. An automatic portable blood pressure recorder and processor unit was used for measurement of systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and heart rate every 15 min. The change from upright to supine position at the beginning of the night period was associated with a 30-40% increase in blood flow rate and a highly significant decrease in mean arterial blood pressure and heart rate (P less than 0.001 for all). Approximately 100 min after the subjects went to sleep an additional blood flow rate increment (mean 56%) and a simultaneous significant decrease in mean arterial blood pressure (P less than 0.001) were observed. The duration of this hyperemic phase was 116 min. A highly significant reduction of the subcutaneous vascular resistance (50%) was demonstrated during the hyperemic blood flow rate phase compared with the surrounding phases (P less than 0.0001). The synchronism of the nocturnal subcutaneous hyperemia and the decrease in systemic mean arterial blood pressure point to a common, possibly central nervous or humoral, eliciting mechanism.

The heart works against gravity

1993 ◽  
Vol 265 (4) ◽  
pp. R715-R720 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. S. Seymour ◽  
A. R. Hargens ◽  
T. J. Pedley
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Blood Flow ◽  
Potential Energy ◽  
Flow Rate ◽  
Viscous Resistance ◽  
Arterial Blood ◽  
Experimental Artifact ◽  
Continuous Stream ◽  
Laboratory Models ◽  
Poiseuille Equation

The circulatory systems of vertebrate animals are closed, and blood leaves and returns to the heart at the same level. It is often concluded, therefore, that the heart works only against the viscous resistance of the system, not against gravity, even in vascular loops above the heart in which the siphon principle operates. However, we argue that the siphon principle does not assist blood flow in superior vascular loops if any of the descending vasculature is collapsible. If central arterial blood pressure is insufficient to support a blood column between the heart and the head, blood flow ceases because of vascular collapse. Furthermore, the siphon principle does not assist the heart even when a continuous stream of blood is flowing in a superior loop. The potential energy gained by blood as it is pumped to the head is lost to friction in partially collapsed descending vessels and thus is not regained. Application of the Poiseuille equation to flow in collapsible vessels is limited; resistance depends on flow rate in partially collapsed vessels with no transmural pressure difference, but flow rate is independent of resistance. Thus the pressure developed by the heart to establish a given flow rate is independent of the resistance occurring in the partially collapsed vessels. The pressure depends only on the height of the blood column and the resistance in the noncollapsed parts of the system. Simple laboratory models, involving water flow in collapsible tubing, dispel the idea that the siphon principle facilitates blood flow and suggest that previously published results may have been affected by experimental artifact.

Nocturnal variations in human lower leg subcutaneous blood flow related to sleep stages

1992 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 1246-1252 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. H. Sindrup ◽  
J. Kastrup ◽  
P. L. Madsen ◽  
H. Christensen ◽  
B. Jorgensen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Flow ◽  
Flow Rate ◽  
Blood Flow Rate ◽  
First Episode ◽  
Tissue Blood Flow ◽  
Sleep Stages ◽  
Deep Sleep ◽  
Arterial Blood ◽  
Subcutaneous Blood Flow ◽  
The Moment

Nocturnal subcutaneous adipose tissue blood flow rate was measured in the lower legs of 10 normal human subjects together with systemic arterial blood pressure, heart rate, and registration of sleep stages under ambulatory conditions. The 133Xe washout technique, portable CdTe(Cl) detectors, and a portable data storage unit were used for measurement of blood flow rates. The sleep recordings were performed with a portable computerized sleep analysis system. In accordance with the results of previous studies, a hyperemic blood flow rate phase (mean increase 140%) for 100 min was observed approximately 60 min after the subjects went to bed. The moment of onset of the hyperemic phase was closely related to the moment of onset of the first episode of deep sleep (stages 3 and 4). There was a significant (P < 0.01) overrepresentation of deep sleep in the hyperemic phase compared with adjacent phases, and rapid-eye-movement sleep predominantly occurred in the latter part of the night, when the subcutaneous blood flow rate was stable. The results of the present study are in accordance with current theories of the interrelationship between the thermoregulatory and the arousal state control systems and, thus, might suggest that the nightly subcutaneous hyperemia represents a thermoregulatory effector mechanism.

scholarly journals Blood flow to long bones indicates activity metabolism in mammals, reptiles and dinosaurs

2011 ◽  
Vol 279 (1728) ◽  
pp. 451-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger S. Seymour ◽  
Sarah L. Smith ◽  
Craig R. White ◽  
Donald M. Henderson ◽  
Daniela Schwarz-Wings
Keyword(s):  
Blood Flow ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Metabolic Rate ◽  
Bone Cells ◽  
Bone Remodelling ◽  
Resting Metabolic Rate ◽  
Blood Flow Rate ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Long Bone ◽  
Cross Sectional

The cross-sectional area of a nutrient foramen of a long bone is related to blood flow requirements of the internal bone cells that are essential for dynamic bone remodelling. Foramen area increases with body size in parallel among living mammals and non-varanid reptiles, but is significantly larger in mammals. An index of blood flow rate through the foramina is about 10 times higher in mammals than in reptiles, and even higher if differences in blood pressure are considered. The scaling of foramen size correlates well with maximum whole-body metabolic rate during exercise in mammals and reptiles, but less well with resting metabolic rate. This relates to the role of blood flow associated with bone remodelling during and following activity. Mammals and varanid lizards have much higher aerobic metabolic rates and exercise-induced bone remodelling than non-varanid reptiles. Foramen areas of 10 species of dinosaur from five taxonomic groups are generally larger than from mammals, indicating a routinely highly active and aerobic lifestyle. The simple measurement holds possibilities offers the possibility of assessing other groups of extinct and living vertebrates in relation to body size, behaviour and habitat.

scholarly journals Effect of ephedrine and phenylephrine on brain oxygenation and microcirculation in anaesthetised patients with cerebral tumours: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

BMJ Open ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. e018560 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus Ulrik Koch ◽  
Anna Tietze ◽  
Joel Aanerud ◽  
Gorm von Öettingen ◽  
Niels Juul ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Blood Flow ◽  
Metabolic Rate ◽  
Transit Time ◽  
Oxygen Extraction Fraction ◽  
Oxygen Extraction ◽  
Brain Oxygenation ◽  
Cerebral Metabolic Rate ◽  
Arterial Blood ◽  
Extraction Fraction

IntroductionDuring brain tumour surgery, vasopressor drugs are commonly administered to increase mean arterial blood pressure with the aim of maintaining sufficient cerebral perfusion pressure. Studies of the commonly used vasopressors show that brain oxygen saturation is reduced after phenylephrine administration, but unaltered by ephedrine administration. These findings may be explained by different effects of phenylephrine and ephedrine on the cerebral microcirculation, in particular the capillary transit-time heterogeneity, which determines oxygen extraction efficacy. We hypothesised that phenylephrine is associated with an increase in capillary transit-time heterogeneity and a reduction in cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen compared with ephedrine. Using MRI and positron emission tomography (PET) as measurements in anaesthetised patients with brain tumours, this study will examine whether phenylephrine administration elevates capillary transit-time heterogeneity more than ephedrine, thereby reducing brain oxygenation.Methods and analysisThis is a double-blind, randomised clinical trial including 48 patients scheduled for surgical brain tumour removal. Prior to imaging and surgery, anaesthetised patients will be randomised to receive either phenylephrine or ephedrine infusion until mean arterial blood pressure increases to above 60 mm Hg or 20% above baseline. Twenty-four patients were allocated to MRI and another 24 patients to PET examination. MRI measurements include cerebral blood flow, capillary transit-time heterogeneity, cerebral blood volume, blood mean transit time, and calculated oxygen extraction fraction and cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen for negligible tissue oxygen extraction. PET measurements include cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen, cerebral blood flow and oxygen extraction fraction. Surgery is initiated after MRI/PET measurements and subdural intracranial pressure is measured.Ethics and disseminationThis study was approved by the Central Denmark Region Committee on Health Research Ethics (12 June 2015; 1-10-72-116-15). Results will be disseminated via peer-reviewed publication and presentation at international conferences.Trial registration numberNCT02713087; Pre-results. 2015-001359-60; Pre-results.

scholarly journals Fossil skulls reveal that blood flow rate to the brain increased faster than brain volume during human evolution

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (8) ◽  
pp. 160305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger S. Seymour ◽  
Vanya Bosiocic ◽  
Edward P. Snelling
Keyword(s):  
Blood Flow ◽  
Cerebral Blood Flow ◽  
Metabolic Rate ◽  
Flow Rate ◽  
Brain Volume ◽  
Brain Size ◽  
Blood Flow Rate ◽  
Fold Increase ◽  
Cerebral Tissue ◽  
Cerebral Metabolic Rate

The evolution of human cognition has been inferred from anthropological discoveries and estimates of brain size from fossil skulls. A more direct measure of cognition would be cerebral metabolic rate, which is proportional to cerebral blood flow rate (perfusion). The hominin cerebrum is supplied almost exclusively by the internal carotid arteries. The sizes of the foramina that transmitted these vessels in life can be measured in hominin fossil skulls and used to calculate cerebral perfusion rate. Perfusion in 11 species of hominin ancestors, from Australopithecus to archaic Homo sapiens , increases disproportionately when scaled against brain volume (the allometric exponent is 1.41). The high exponent indicates an increase in the metabolic intensity of cerebral tissue in later Homo species, rather than remaining constant (1.0) as expected by a linear increase in neuron number, or decreasing according to Kleiber's Law (0.75). During 3 Myr of hominin evolution, cerebral tissue perfusion increased 1.7-fold, which, when multiplied by a 3.5-fold increase in brain size, indicates a 6.0-fold increase in total cerebral blood flow rate. This is probably associated with increased interneuron connectivity, synaptic activity and cognitive function, which all ultimately depend on cerebral metabolic rate.

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