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Journal of Experimental Biology 152,129-147 (1990)
Published by Company of Biologists 1990

Developmental Changes in Cardiac and Metabolic Physiology of the Direct-Developing Tropical Frog Eleutherodactylus Coqui

WARREN W. BURGGREN ¹, ROBERT L. INFANTINO JR ², and DANIEL S. TOWNSEND ³

¹ Department of Zoology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003-0027, USA;
² Department of Zoology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003-0027, USA
³ Department of Biology, University of Scranton, Scranton, PA 18510-2192, USA

The neotropical frog Eleutherodactylus coqui (Thomas) undergoes direct development within the egg, emerging at hatching as a juvenile frog. The aim of this study was to investigate cardiorespiratory changes that accompany development, as well as to determine how the developmental physiology of direct-developing anurans differs from anurans with free-living larval stages. Heart rate (fH), oxygen uptake (M_OO2), vitelline fluid pH, and the protein and lactate concentrations of vitelline fluid were measured as a function of development. At 24-25°C, fH doubled from 50 to 100 beats min^-1 during the early stages of heart development, then increased more slowly with later embryonic development to 120 beats min^-1 at hatching. The act of hatching itself was accompanied by a transient increase in fH to 155 beats min^-11, this mild tachycardia lasting for at least 2 h. In juveniles and adults, heart rate decreased with increasing body mass, falling to about 80 beats min^-1 in 6 g frogs at 24-25°C. M_OO2 at 24-25°C increased from about 2 µmol g egg^-1 h^-1 for the earliest embryos examined to about 12 µmol g egg^-1 h^-1 at hatching. M_OO2 in adults decreased with increasing body size, ranging from 4 to 5 µmol g^-1 h^-1 in the largest adults examined (6 g). Both fH and M_OO2 were also measured at 18°C. The Q₁₀ for fH was between 1.5 and 2 throughout development. The Q₁₀ for M_OO2 in embryos ranged between 3.5 and 6.5 until hatching, falling to 1.6-2.0 in juveniles and small adults. Vitelline fluid pH (24-25°C) decreased from 5.2 in early embryonic stages to 4.7 at the time of hatching. Egg dehydration caused a significant decrease in the pH of vitelline fluid and was associated with a significant rise in fH. Vitelline fluid protein concentration was about 5-6 mg dl^-1, and showed no consistent change with development. Whole-egg lactate concentration ranged from 4 to 11 µg g egg^-1, and also showed no consistent change during development. These findings indicate considerable changes in cardiac and metabolic physiology associated with development in Eleutherodactylus coqui. These changes appear to be associated with both organogenesis (primary influence before hatching) and body mass changes (primary influence after hatching).

Key words: ontogeny, oxygen consumption, heart rate, Q₁₀, amphibian

Accepted on April 26, 1990

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