Abstract
We examined the cardiorespiratory responses to 6 h of acute hypercarbia (1, 2.5, and 5% CO2) in intact and gill-denervated (bilateral denervation of branchial branches of cranial nerves IX and X) tambaqui, Colossoma macropomum. Intact fish exposed to 1 and 2.5% CO2 increased respiratory frequency (f R) and ventilation amplitude (V AMP) slowly over a 1- to 3-h period. Denervated fish did not show this response, suggesting that tambaqui possess receptors in the gills that will produce excitatory responses to low levels of hypercarbia (1 and 2.5% CO2) if the exposure is prolonged. The cardiac response to stimulation of these receptors with this level of CO2 was a tachycardia and not a bradycardia. During exposure to 5% CO2, intact fish increased f R and V AMP, and showed a pronounced bradycardia after 1 h. After 2 h, the heart rate (f H) started to increase, but returned to control values after 6 h. In denervated fish, the increase in f R was abolished. The slow increase in V AMP and the bradycardia were not abolished, suggesting that these changes arose from extra-branchial receptors. Neither intact nor denervated fish developed the swelling of the lower lip or performed aquatic surface respiration, even after 6 h, suggesting that these are unique responses to hypoxia and not hypercarbia.
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Abbreviations
- ASR:
-
aquatic surface respiration
- f H :
-
heart frequency
- f R :
-
respiratory frequency
- V AMP :
-
ventilation amplitude
- V̇ TOT :
-
total ventilation
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Acknowledgements
This study was supported by FAPESP (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, SP, Brazil—Procs. 98/13112-0, 98/13534-1), CNPq (Brazilian National Research Council for Development of Sciences and Technology—PhD fellowship to L.H.F.), and the NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council) of Canada (scientific and operating grants to W.K.M.). The authors also would like to acknowledge CAUNESP/Jaboticabal, SP, for providing the fish. The experiments of the present study comply with the current Brazilian laws for animal experimentation.
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Florindo, L.H., Reid, S.G., Kalinin, A.L. et al. Cardiorespiratory reflexes and aquatic surface respiration in the neotropical fish tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum): acute responses to hypercarbia. J Comp Physiol B 174, 319–328 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-004-0417-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-004-0417-5