|
| |
|
|
|
|
||||
| Home Help Feedback Subscriptions Archive Search Table of Contents | ||||
Studies on Neurohumoral Induction of Compensatory Mechanisms in Thermal Acclimation of Poikilotherms : I. Effect of Injection of CNS Extract on the Metabolism of Two Species of Earthworms
1 Department of Zoology, Bangalore University, Bangalore 560001, India
1. The effect of cold acclimation, which brings about changes in the total metabolism, has been studied in the two species of earthworms Perionyx excavatus and Lampito mauritii.
2. Of the two species the lowest temperature that could be tolerated by Lampito was only 17 ± 1°C whereas Perionyx could survive at 9 ± 1°C.
3. The rate of oxygen consumption of the cold-acclimated Perionyx is higher than the rate of respiration of the normal Perionyx when measured at room temperature. The tissue respiration of Perionyx when measured at 20, 25, 30 and 35 °C shows Prosser's acclimation type IV, i.e. translation at lower temperature range and rotation at high temperature.
4. In Lampito the respiratory rate (measured at room temperature) of worms injected with extract of nervous tissue from cold-acclimated worms (18°C) is higher than that of worms injected with extract of nervous tissue from normal worms.
5. In Perionyx the respiration of the body-wall muscle tissue from injected worms, measured at 20, 25, 30 and 35 °C, is found to be similar to that of the tissues of cold-acclimated worms.
6. It is suggested that the neurosecretions of nervous system have an important role in controlling the metabolic activities during cold-acclimation in earth-worms.
Submitted on April 25, 1973
