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


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

First published online May 5, 2005
Journal of Experimental Biology 208, 1971-1991 (2005)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2005
doi: 10.1242/jeb.01583
This Article
Right arrow Summary Freely available
Right arrow Full Text
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 Similar articles in PubMed
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 HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Stephenson, R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Stephenson, R.
Social Bookmarking
 Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Physiological control of diving behaviour in the Weddell seal Leptonychotes weddelli: a model based on cardiorespiratory control theory

Richard Stephenson

Department of Zoology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3G5



View larger version (28K):

[in a new window]
 
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the model. Six body compartments (rectangular boxes) interconnected by blood circulation (bold solid lines), with arterial and venous mixing compartments and circulatory lags (ta, th, tc and tv). Compartmental blood flows are coupled to compartmental metabolic rate and oxygen delivery (local vascular regulation) and to respiratory drive (systemic vascular regulation). Fine solid arrows indicate internal and external gas exchange. Dotted arrows indicate neural respiratory drives. See text for a detailed description. Abbreviations are listed in Tables 1 and 2.

 


View larger version (22K):

[in a new window]
 
Fig. 2. The effects of varying chemoreceptor thresholds on durations of dives (td, solid lines) and surface intervals (ts, broken lines). (A) The effect of decreases in central chemoreceptor threshold (Tc) during surface hyperventilation ({Delta}Tc, mmHg) at each of four different levels of peripheral chemoreceptor threshold (Tp, mmHg). Tc during dives was always 37.4 mmHg. Tp was constant across the dive cycle: circles, Tp=39.1 mmHg; triangles, Tp=37.4 mmHg; squares, Tp=35.7 mmHg; diamonds, Tp=34 mmHg. (B) The effect of variation in Tp on ts and td at constant {Delta}Tc (-5.1 mmHg). Note that increasing Tp represents decreasing peripheral chemoreceptor responsiveness to CO2 and O2.

 


View larger version (16K):

[in a new window]
 
Fig. 3. The effect of mean cardiac output during surface intervals (s, expressed as a percentage of the nominal maximum cardiac output, max) on (A) surface intervals (ts) and (B) dive durations (td). In this study max was assumed to be 84.3 l min-1, corresponding to a maximum heart rate of 85 beats min-1. Simulations were conducted at three levels of hyperventilation (n, expressed as a percentage of maximum ventilation, max=240 l min-1); diamonds, n=58%; squares, n=75%; triangles, n=92%.

 


View larger version (19K):

[in a new window]
 
Fig. 4. The effect of mean cardiac output during dives (d, expressed as a percentage of nominal resting ) on (A) surface intervals (ts) and (B) dive durations (td). Circles, effect of varying d by changes in arterio-venous shunt flow (a-); black diamonds, effect of varying d by changes in cardiorespiratory coupling (via , see text for details); white diamonds, effect of hypoxia (FIO 2=0.15) on the responses to varying ; triangles, effect of elimination of splenic contraction on the responses to varying .

 


View larger version (32K):

[in a new window]
 
Fig. 5. Dependent variables during simulated shallow resting dive cycles in an adult Weddell seal model. A dive (onset indicated by downward broken arrows) and the preceding and succeeding surface intervals (onset at upward broken arrows) are shown. Parameter values were chosen for the purposes of illustration to yield a 16.4 min dive with 5.9 min surface intervals, typical diving behaviour for an adult Weddell seal: n=75% max, s=81.4 1 min-1, d=6.7 1 min-1 (zero flow in muscle), corresponding to a mean surface heart rate of 146 beats min-1 and mean diving heart rate 10.5 beats min-1. (A) Alveolar ventilation (A, dark blue) and heart rate (fH, red). (B) Total chemical respiratory drive (chem, dark blue) and central neural respiratory drive (n, red). Horizontal light green line is the chemical drive threshold (Tchem). Ventilation occurs only when chem and/or n are above Tchem, so that Tchem functions as an `apnoeic threshold' of respiratory drive. n is assumed to be inhibited (e.g. by reflexes in the upper respiratory tract) during dives. (C) Central chemoreflex drive (c, dark blue) and peripheral chemoreflex drive (p, red), which represent the components of chem. c is determined by partial pressure of CO2 in the brain PBCO2(t) and p is determined by partial pressures of both O2 and CO2 in the arterial blood flowing through the peripheral chemoreceptor [PaO2(t-tc) and PaCO2(t-tc), respectively]. (D) Partial pressures of CO2 in various parts of the model system: orange, PBCO2[t] at the central chemoreceptor; light blue, PACO2(t) in the lung and pulmonary capillary blood; dark blue, PaCO2(t-tc) at the peripheral chemoreceptor; dark green, PCO2(t-tv) in mixed venous blood at the lung. (E) Partial pressures of O2 in various parts of the model system: light blue, PAO2(t) in the lung and pulmonary capillary blood; dark green, PO2(t-tv) in mixed venous blood at the lung. (F) Oxygen saturation of `arterial' blood in the pulmonary capillaries [SaO2(t), light blue], mixed venous blood at the lung [SO2(t-tv), dark green], and skeletal muscle myoglobin [SmO2(t), red].

 

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




© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2005