A Functional Analysis of the Aquatic and Aerial Respiratory Movements of an African Lungfish, Protopterus Aethiopicus, With Reference to the Evolution of the Lung-Ventilation Mechanism in Vertebrates

1969 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 407-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. R. MCMAHON
Keyword(s):  
Lung Ventilation ◽  
Air Breathing ◽  
Aerial Respiration ◽  
X Ray ◽  
African Lungfish ◽  
Pump Mechanism ◽  
Elasmobranch Fishes ◽  
Breathing Mechanism ◽  
Respiratory Movements ◽  
Branchial Region

1. The anatomy of the head and branchial region of Protopterus has been studied by dissection and section techniques to show the relation between skeletal and muscular elements. X-ray cinematographic, pressure and electromyographic techniques have been used to show how the muscular and skeletal systems interact to produce the respiratory movements. The mechanisms involved in aquatic and aerial respiration in Protopterus have thus been elucidated. 2. The mechanisms of branchial irrigation has been shown to be basically similar to that seen in teleost and elasmobranch fishes, and also similar to that seen in larval amphibia. 3. The aerial cycle is composed of a series of aquatic-type cycles, each of which is modified slightly to serve a specific function in the aerial cycle. Inspiration occurs by a buccal force-pump mechanism. Expiration occurs by the release of compressed pulmonary gas, aided by the elasticity of the lung wall. 4. In this animal the air-breathing mechanism is derived from the aquatic mechanism. The modifications are relatively simple and produce an efficient ventilation mechanism. 5. No movements of the ribs can be seen associated with the respiratory cycles. It is suggested that the aspiratory ventilation mechanisms were not present in the prototetrapods and were not evolved until a later, more fully terrestrial stage was reached. 6. The evidence suggests that the air-breathing mechanism of the tetrapods was powered by a buccal force-pump mechanism which evolved directly from the aquatic system. The evolution of a new mechanism for lung ventilation in the prototetrapods is considered unnecessary.

Respiratory faculties of amphibious and terrestrial craniotes

2019 ◽  
pp. 139-163
Author(s):  
Steven F. Perry ◽  
Markus Lambertz ◽  
Anke Schmitz
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
Current System ◽  
Pulmonary Veins ◽  
Lung Ventilation ◽  
Complete Separation ◽  
Air Breathing ◽  
System P ◽  
Low Performance ◽  
Pool System ◽  
Breathing Mechanism

This chapter introduces the ‘who has what’ in terms of air-breathing respiratory faculties for craniotes. Air breathing has arisen independently dozens of times among ray-finned fishes, but none has become completely terrestrial. The lobe-finned fishes eventually gave rise to amphibians and amniotes, and we see an increased importance of primarily lung-based air breathing. A muscular mechanism for lung ventilation (a buccal pump in amphibians and primarily a negative pressure aspiration mechanism in amniotes), pulmonary veins that return oxygenated blood to the heart, and some mechanism for partial or complete separation of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood masses at the heart are seen. Each major tetrapod group, in fact, has its own specific breathing mechanism. The chapter examines in some detail low-performance and high-performance faculties, the latter being particularly realized in the diaphragm-powered, ventilated pool system of the mammalian bronchoalveolar lung, and in the cross-current system of the avian lung–air sac system.

Respiration in the African Lungfish Protopterus Aethiopicus

1968 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 437-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
CLAUDE LENFANT ◽  
KJELL JOHANSEN
Keyword(s):  
Gas Exchange ◽  
Haemoglobin Concentration ◽  
Temperature Shift ◽  
Mean Value ◽  
Gas Analysis ◽  
Air Exposure ◽  
Air Breathing ◽  
African Lungfish ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Protopterus Aethiopicus

1. Respiratory properties of blood and pattern of aerial and aquatic breathing and gas exchange have been studied in the African lungfish, Protopterus aethiopicus. 2. The mean value for haematocrit was 25%. Haemoglobin concentration was 6.2 g% and O2 capacity 6.8 vol. %. 3. The affinity of haemoglobin for O2 was high. P50 was 10 mm. Hg at PCOCO2, 6 mm. Hg and 25 °C. The Bohr effect was smaller than for the Australian lungfish, Neoceratodus, but exceeded that for the South American lungfish, Lepidosiren. The O2 affinity showed a larger temperature shift in Protopterus than Neoceratodus. 4. The CO2 combining power and the over-all buffering capacity of the blood exceeded values for the other lungfishes. 5. Both aerial and aquatic breathing showed a labile frequency. Air exposure elicited a marked increase in the rate of air breathing. 6. When resting in aerated water, air breathing accounted for about 90% of the O2 absorption. Aquatic gas exchange with gills and skin was 2.5 times more effective than pulmonary gas exchange in removing CO2. The low gas-exchange ratio for the lung diminished further in the interval between breaths. 7. Protopterus showed respiratory independence and a maintained O2 uptake until the ambient O2 and CO2 tensions were 85 and 35 mm. Hg respectively. A further reduction in O2 tension caused an abrupt fall in the oxygen uptake. 8. Gas analysis of blood samples drawn from unanaesthetized, free-swimming fishes attested to the important role of the lung in gas exchange and the high degree of functional separation in the circulation of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood.

scholarly journals Development of blood pressure and cardiac reflexes in the frog Pseudis paradoxsus

1992 ◽  
Vol 263 (3) ◽  
pp. R602-R608
Author(s):  
W. W. Burggren ◽  
J. E. Bicudo ◽  
M. L. Glass ◽  
A. S. Abe
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Heart Rate ◽  
Arterial Blood Pressure ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Mean Arterial Blood Pressure ◽  
Lung Ventilation ◽  
Air Breathing ◽  
Paulo State ◽  
Arterial Blood ◽  
Nearly Continuous

Systemic arterial blood pressure and heart rate (fH) were measured in unanesthetized, unrestrained larvae and adults of the paradoxical frog, Pseudis paradoxus from Sao Paulo State in Brazil. Four developmental groups were used, representing the complete transition from aquatic larvae to primarily air-breathing adults. fH (49-66 beats/min) was not significantly affected by development, whereas mean arterial blood pressure was strongly affected, being lowest in the stage 37-39 larvae (10 mmHg), intermediate in the stage 44-45 larvae (18 mmHg), and highest in the juveniles and adults (31 and 30 mmHg, respectively). Blood pressure was not significantly correlated with body mass, which was greatest in the youngest larvae and smallest in the juveniles. In the youngest larvae studied (stages 37-39), lung ventilation was infrequent, causing a slight decrease in arterial blood pressure but no change in heart rate. Lung ventilation was more frequent in stages 44-45 larvae and nearly continuous in juveniles and adults floating at the surface. Bradycardia during both forced and voluntary diving was observed in almost every advanced larva, juvenile, and adult but in only one of four young larvae. Developmentally related changes in blood pressure were not complete until metamorphosis, whereas diving bradycardia was present at an earlier stage.

Aerial respiration in the catfish, Corydoras aeneus (Callichthyidae)

1980 ◽  
Vol 58 (11) ◽  
pp. 1984-1991 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald L. Kramer ◽  
Martha McClure
Keyword(s):  
Dissolved Oxygen ◽  
Air Breathing ◽  
Aerial Respiration ◽  
Posterior Intestine ◽  
Partial Pressures

Corydoras aeneus uses the posterior intestine for aerial respiration. Ventilation takes place in a rapid dash to the surface. Air is inspired during the 0.06–0.07 s that the mouth is exposed; expiration occurs via the anus as the fish begins to dive. Air breathing occurs at all dissolved oxygen partial pressures [Formula: see text] from 0 Torr (1 Torr = 133.322 Pa) to at least 140 Torr, but frequency, ranging from 1–45 breaths∙h−1, is negatively correlated with [Formula: see text]. Corydoras aeneus survive at least 9 days without air breathing under normoxic conditions [Formula: see text] but below 15 Torr, only fish able to reach the surface survive. Air-breathing rates are significantly influenced by variations in depth between 10–120 cm but the pattern of response depends on [Formula: see text] and involves changes in activity.

Gas exchange and its control in non-steady-state systems: the consequences of evolution from water to air breathing in the vertebrates

1988 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Shelton ◽  
P. C. Croghan
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Gas Exchange ◽  
Dynamic Models ◽  
Continuous Process ◽  
Circulatory System ◽  
Lung Ventilation ◽  
Burst Duration ◽  
Air Breathing ◽  
Arterial Blood ◽  
Dissociation Curves

Control of breathing and gas exchange has been extensively investigated in unimodal animals, particularly mammals, in which ventilation is characteristically a regular and continuous process and gas exchange approximates to a steady-state system. Both static and dynamic models have been developed in control-theory analyses. Similar analyses are possible in unimodal fish, though few have been carried out. Control in bimodal animals, such as air-breathing fish and amphibians, is more difficult to understand and model. The evolutionary change from water to air breathing in vertebrates involves not only the adjustment of many control processes but also the development, in the early stages, of non steady states in gas exchangers, blood, and tissues. A simple control-system model, differing from mammalian counterparts in its greater emphasis on storage functions and its intermittently activated controller, is described for two suggested stages in the evolution of air breathing. The first of these stages is air gulping, in which a fixed and rather brief pattern of air breathing is activated by internal signals generated as a result of the inadequacy of the gills to provide sufficient oxygen for tissue metabolism. The second stage is that of burst breathing, in which lung ventilation is both begun and ended by internal signals so that burst duration is variable. The effects of adjusting parameters on variables of evolutionary importance, such as dive duration, burst duration, store renewal, and metabolic rate, can be examined in these two versions of the model. Refinements to incorporate arterial and venous compartments in the circulatory system, the shunting of venous and arterial blood streams in the heart, realistic oxygen dissociation curves, controller inputs from a wider range of sources, and the capacity to respond to some conditions with changes in ventilation rate as well as in burst and dive durations, are being developed. They should make the complex, non-steady-state interactions between gas exchangers, circulating blood, and tissues easier to understand and indicate the likely steps toward the evolution of steady-state systems seen in birds and mammals.

The dipnoan buccal pump reconstructed in 3D and implications for air breathing in Devonian lungfishes

Paleobiology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Clement ◽  
J. A. Long ◽  
P. Tafforeau ◽  
P. E. Ahlberg
Keyword(s):  
Fresh Water ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Spatial Relationship ◽  
Lung Ventilation ◽  
Environmental Context ◽  
Late Devonian ◽  
Pump Mode ◽  
Air Breathing ◽  
Marine Habitats ◽  
Synchrotron Tomography

AbstractLungfishes are known for, and indeed take their name from, their bimodal respiratory abilities. All three extant genera can use their lungs to extract oxygen from the atmosphere, although their reliance upon this capability differs among taxa. Lungs are considered primitive for the Osteichthyes, however the distinctive buccal pump mode of air gulping exhibited by extant lungfishes appears to be a specialization. It is associated with a number of derived skeletal characters (cranial ribs, long parasphenoid stalk, midline gap between palatal tooth plates) that first appeared during the Devonian. These have been described individually, but in no Devonian lungfish has their three-dimensional (3D) spatial relationship been reconstructed and analyzed. Here we present the 3D morphology of Rhinodipterus, a Mid-Late Devonian lungfish from Australia and Europe, based on synchrotron tomography and conventional microtomography scans.Unlike less crownward contemporaneous lungfishes such as Griphognathus and Chirodipterus, Rhinodipterus has a full set of skeletal buccal pump components that can be directly compared to those of extant lungfishes, suggesting that it made more extensive use of air breathing than other Gogo or Bergisch Gladbach genera. This is interesting in relation to the environmental context as Gogo and Bergisch Gladbach are both marine, contrasting with the frequently hypoxic tropical to subtropical fresh water environments inhabited by modern lungfishes. The evolution of buccal pump-supported lung ventilation was evidently not necessarily associated with a transition to non-marine habitats.

scholarly journals Ventilation and gas exchange during treadmill locomotion in the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis)

2000 ◽  
Vol 203 (11) ◽  
pp. 1671-1678 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.G. Farmer ◽  
D.R. Carrier
Keyword(s):  
Gas Exchange ◽  
Large Volume ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Lung Ventilation ◽  
Alligator Mississippiensis ◽  
Air Breathing ◽  
Air Convection ◽  
Exercise Ventilation ◽  
Anatomical Characters ◽  
Treadmill Locomotion

A number of anatomical characters of crocodilians appear to be inconsistent with their lifestyle as sit-and-wait predators. To address this paradoxical association of characters further, we measured lung ventilation and respiratory gas exchange during walking in American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis). During exercise, ventilation consisted of low-frequency, large-volume breaths. The alligators hyperventilated severely during walking with respect to their metabolic demands. Air convection requirements were among the highest and estimates of lung P(CO2) were among the lowest known in air-breathing vertebrates. Air convection requirements dropped immediately with cessation of exercise. These observations indicate that the ventilation of alligators is not limited by their locomotor movements. We suggest that the highly specialized ventilatory system of modern crocodilians represents a legacy from cursorial ancestors rather than an adaptation to a lifestyle as amphibious sit-and-wait predators.

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