spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif 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 MORRIS, S.
Right arrow Articles by TAYLOR, E. W.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by MORRIS, S.
Right arrow Articles by TAYLOR, E. W.
Journal of Experimental Biology 121,327-337 (1986)
Published by Company of Biologists 1986

The Regulation of Haemocyanin Oxygen Affinity during Emersion of the Crayfish Austropotamobius Pallipes : II. An Investigation of in Vivo changes in Oxygen Affinity

S. MORRIS 1, R. TYLER-JONES 2, C. R. BRIDGES 1, and E. W. TAYLOR 2

1 Institut für Zoologie IV, Lehrstuhl für Stoffwechselphysiologie, Universität Düsseldorf, D-4000 Düsseldorf 1, F.R.G.
2 Department of Zoology and Comparative Physiology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, England

The oxygen-transporting properties of the haemolymph from the crayfish Austropotamobius pallipes were investigated. The haemolymph concentrations of K+, Mg2+ and Ca2+ ions, together with the concentration of L-lactate were measured in crayfish before, during and after 24 h emersion.

The concentrations of K+ and Mg2+ increased during aerial exposure and returned to pre-emersion levels during immersed recovery. Large increases in the level of circulating L-lactate and Ca2+ were correlated with short- and long-term aerial exposure respectively. Changes in the concentrations of these ions could also be correlated with changes in haemocyanin oxygen affinity. Reimmersion and recovery returned all parameters to near control values.

The effect, on haemocyanin oxygen affinity, of the Bohr shift alone was calculated and compared with the change in oxygen affinity ({Delta}P50) actually determined during aerial exposure. These data were also compared with predictions, calculated from in vitro data, for the potentiation of haemocyanin oxygen affinity by Ca2+ and L-lactate ions in aerially exposed crayfish. The physiological significance of the regulation of haemocyanin oxygen affinity by these ions is discussed.

Key words: crayfish, L-lactate, calcium, haemocyanin, oxygen affinity, emersion

Accepted on September 20, 1985






© The Company of Biologists Ltd 1986