QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

First published online May 24, 2005
Journal of Experimental Biology 208, 2071-2082 (2005)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2005
doi: 10.1242/jeb.01575

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplementary Material Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in JEB Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by King, A. J. Articles by Adamo, S. A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by King, A. J. Articles by Adamo, S. A. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Using ultrasound to understand vascular and mantle contributions to venous return in the cephalopod Sepia officinalis L.

Alison J. King^1,*, Stephen M. Henderson⁴, Matthias H. Schmidt², Alison G. Cole^1, and Shelley A. Adamo³

¹ Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
² Department of Radiology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
³ Department of Psychology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
⁴ Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA 92093-0209, USA

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: ajking{at}dal.ca)

Accepted 8 March 2005

Using ultrasound imaging, we investigated the roles of the potentially contractile veins and of the mantle (the powerful body wall that moves water over the gills, and also encloses the large veins and the hearts) in returning the blood of cuttlefish to its hearts. Ultrasound provided the first non-invasive observations of vascular function in an unanaesthetized, free-moving cephalopod. The large veins (anterior vena cava, lateral venae cavae and efferent branchial vessels) contracted in live, intact cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis L.). The anterior vena cava contracted at the same rate as the mantle, but it often expanded during mantle contraction. Furthermore, the anterior vena cava contracted peristaltically in vivo, suggesting that it actively aids venous return. The lateral venae cavae and efferent branchial vessels contracted at the same rate as the branchial and systemic hearts, but at a different rate from the mantle. A peristaltic wave appeared to travel along the lateral venae cavae to the branchial hearts, potentially aiding venous return. We found a muscular valve between the anterior and lateral venae cavae, which ensured that blood flowed only one way between these unsynchronized vessels. The mantle appears to have an unclear connection with cardiovascular function. We conclude that, when cuttlefish are at rest, the mantle does not compress any of the large veins that we imaged (including the anterior vena cava), and that peristaltic contractions of the large veins might be important in returning cephalopod blood to the hearts.

Key words: cardiovascular dynamics, venous return, ventilation, cephalopoda, mantle, circulation, systemic heart, branchial heart, vein, cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

Related articles in JEB:

PEERING INTO CUTTLEFISH

Yfke van Bergen
JEB 2005 208: ii. [Full Text]  

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. A. Adamo, K. Ehgoetz, C. Sangster, and I. Whitehorne Signaling to the Enemy? Body Pattern Expression and Its Response to External Cues During Hunting in the Cuttlefish Sepia officinalis (Cephalopoda) Biol. Bull., June 1, 2006; 210(3): 192 - 200. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. J. King and S. A. Adamo The ventilatory, cardiac and behavioural responses of resting cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis L.) to sudden visual stimuli J. Exp. Biol., March 15, 2006; 209(6): 1101 - 1111. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Y. van Bergen PEERING INTO CUTTLEFISH J. Exp. Biol., June 1, 2005; 208(11): ii - ii. [Full Text] [PDF]