spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif Online submission spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by BIRCHARD, G. F.
Right arrow Articles by BLACK, V.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by BIRCHARD, G. F.
Right arrow Articles by BLACK, V.
Journal of Experimental Biology 108,247-255 (1984)
Published by Company of Biologists 1984

Foetal-Maternal Blood Respiratory Properties of an Ovoviviparous Snake the Cottonmouth, Agkistrodon Piscivorus

GEOFFREY F. BIRCHARD 1, CRAIG P. BLACK 1, GORDON W. SCHUETT 2, and VIRGINIA BLACK 1

1 Department of Biology, University of Toledo Toledo, Ohio 43606, U.S.A. and Department of Pediatrics, Wayne State University Medical School Detroit, MI 48201, U.S.A.
2 Department of Biology, University of Toledo Toledo, Ohio 43606, U.S.A. and Department of Pediatrics, Wayne State University Medical School Detroit, MI 48201, U.S.A.; Department of Biology, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859, U.S.A.

The respiratory properties of maternal, foetal and juvenile whole blood were studied in the ovoviviparous snake, Agkistrodon piscivorus. Haematocrit, haemoglobin concentration, O2 capacity, Bohr effect and Hill coefficients were not significantly different in foetal and maternal blood and were similar to values previously reported from snakes. A significant difference in foetal-maternal blood P50 (foetal 19.5, maternal 48.8) was found. Nucleoside triphosphate (NTP) levels were lower in foetal than in maternal and juvenile snakes. The foetal-maternal difference in P50 and NTP levels disappeared soon after birth (juvenile P50 45.5). Starch gel electrophoresis revealed no difference in foetal and maternal haemoglobins. We suggest that the foetal-maternal shift in blood oxygen affinity is modulated directly and/or indirectly by NTP levels.

Note:

Present address: Department of Physiology, Dartmouth Medical School Present address: Hanover, NH 037S6, U.S.A.

Key words: Blood, foetal, Agkistrodon, Reptilia

Accepted on August 10, 1983






© The Company of Biologists Ltd 1984