Cardiac and Metabolic Physiology of Early Larval Zebrafish (Danio rerio) Reflects Parental Swimming Stamina

Swimming stamina in adult fish is heritable, it is unknown if inherited traits that support enhanced swimming stamina in offspring appear only in juveniles and/or adults, or if these traits actually appear earlier in the morphologically quite different larvae. To answer this question, mature adult zebrafish (Danio rerio) were subjected to a swimming performance test that allowed separation into low swimming stamina or high swimming stamina groups. Adults were then bred within their own performance groups. Larval offspring from each of the two groups, designated high (LHSD) and low stamina-derived larvae (LLSD), were then reared at 27°C in aerated water (21% O2). Routine (fH,r) and active (fH,a) heart rate, and routine (Ṁo2,r) and active (Ṁo2,a) mass-specific oxygen consumption were recorded from 5 days post fertilization (dpf) through 21 dpf, and gross cost of transport and factorial aerobic metabolic scope were derived from Ṁo2 measurements. Heart rate generally ranged between 150 and 225 bpm in both LHSD and LLSD populations. However, significant (P < 0.05) differences existed between the LLSD and LHSD populations at 5 and 14 dpf in fH,r and at days 10 and 15 dpf in fH,a. Ṁo2,r was 0.04–0.32 μmol mg−1 h−1, while Ṁo2,a was 0.2–1.2 μmol mg−1 h−1. Significant (P < 0.05) differences between the LLSD and LHSD populations in Ṁo2,r occurred at 7, 10, and 21 dpf and in Ṁo2,a at 7 dpf. Gross cost of transport was ∼6–10 μmol O2·μg−1 m−1 at 5 dpf, peaking at 14–19 μmol O2 μg−1 m−1 at 7–10 dpf, before falling again to 5–6 μmol O2 μg−1 m−1 at 21 dpf, with gross cost of transport significantly higher in the LLSD population at 7 dpf. Collectively, these data indicate that inherited physiological differences known to contribute to enhanced stamina in adult parents also appear in their larval offspring well before attainment of juvenile or adult features

Dynamics of Epigenetic Phenomena: Intergenerational and Intragenerational Phenotype 'Washout'

This review contains a discussion of epigenetic dynamics in comparative biology with a focus on a more organismal level perspective, befitting of comparative physiology, that considers complex phenotypic changes

Hypoxia-induced developmental plasticity of the gills and air-breathing organ of Trichopodus trichopterus

The air-breathing blue gourami Trichopodus trichopterus, an anabantid with a suprabranchial labyrinth organ, was used to study morphological development of respiratory systems in response to chronic hypoxia (13% O 2 , combined aquatic and aerial hypoxia). Overall growth (fork length, wet mass and cutaneous surface area) of T. trichopterus did not differ between control fish and those reared in hypoxia. Both lamellar and labyrinth surface areas of the hypoxic larvae, however, increased more rapidly than controls, producing c. 16% larger lamellar and 30% larger labyrinth mass-specific surface areas within the first 120 days of development. This is the first study to show developmental respiratory plasticity of a bimodally respiring fish. It reveals that chronic hypoxia stimulates development of the gills and air-breathing organ, and that labyrinth growth is even more sensitive to hypoxia than branchial growth

Role of Hypoxia in the Evolution and Development of the Cardiovascular System

Article on the role of hypoxia in the evolution and development of the cardiovascular system

Calendario para el Reyno de Valencia...: Año 1858

Microfilme. Valencia : BV, ca. 1990Recurso electrónico. Valencia : BVNP, 201

Epigenetics and transgenerational transfer: a physiological perspective

This review discusses how the concepts of epigenetics and maternal effects both overlap with, and are distinct from each other, analyzes examples of existing animal physiological studies based on these concepts, and offers a construct by which to integrate these concepts into the design of future investigations in animal physiology

“Bet hedging” against climate change in developing and adult animals: roles for stochastic gene expression, phenotypic plasticity, epigenetic inheritance and adaptation

Animals from embryos to adults experiencing stress from climate change have numerous mechanisms available for enhancing their long-term survival. In this review we consider these options, and how viable they are in a world increasingly experiencing extreme weather associated with climate change. A deeply understood mechanism involves natural selection, leading to evolution of new adaptations that help cope with extreme and stochastic weather events associated with climate change. While potentially effective at staving off environmental challenges, such adaptations typically occur very slowly and incrementally over evolutionary time. Consequently, adaptation through natural selection is in most instances regarded as too slow to aid survival in rapidly changing environments, especially when considering the stochastic nature of extreme weather events associated with climate change. Alternative mechanisms operating in a much shorter time frame than adaptation involve the rapid creation of alternate phenotypes within a life cycle or a few generations. Stochastic gene expression creates multiple phenotypes from the same genotype even in the absence of environmental cues. In contrast, other mechanisms for phenotype change that are externally driven by environmental clues include well-understood developmental phenotypic plasticity (variation, flexibility), which can enable rapid, within-generation changes. Increasingly appreciated are epigenetic influences during development leading to rapid phenotypic changes that can also immediately be very widespread throughout a population, rather than confined to a few individuals as in the case of favorable gene mutations. Such epigenetically-induced phenotypic plasticity can arise rapidly in response to stressors within a generation or across a few generations and just as rapidly be “sunsetted” when the stressor dissipates, providing some capability to withstand environmental stressors emerging from climate change. Importantly, survival mechanisms resulting from adaptations and developmental phenotypic plasticity are not necessarily mutually exclusive, allowing for classic “bet hedging”. Thus, the appearance of multiple phenotypes within a single population provides for a phenotype potentially optimal for some future environment. This enhances survival during stochastic extreme weather events associated with climate change. Finally, we end with recommendations for future physiological experiments, recommending in particular that experiments investigating phenotypic flexibility adopt more realistic protocols that reflect the stochastic nature of weather

Subregional Hippocampal Thickness Abnormalities in Older Adults with a History of Heavy Cannabis Use.

Background and Aims: Legalization of cannabis (CB) for both medicinal and, in some states, recreational use, has given rise to increasing usage rates across the country. Of particular concern are indications that frequent CB use may be selectively harmful to the developing adolescent brain compared with adult-onset usage. However, the long-term effects of heavy, adolescent CB use on brain structure and cognitive performance in late-life remain unknown. A critical brain region is the hippocampus (HC), where there is a striking intersection between high concentrations of cannabinoid 1 (CB1) receptors and age-related pathology. Design: We investigated whether older adults (average age=66.6+7.2 years old) with a history of early life CB use show morphological differences in hippocampal subregions compared with older, nonusers. Methods: We performed high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging combined with computational techniques to assess cortical thickness of the medial temporal lobe, neuropsychological testing, and extensive drug use histories on 50 subjects (24 formerly heavy cannabis users [CB+ group] abstinent for an average of 28.7 years, 26 nonusers [CB- group]). We investigated group differences in hippocampal subregions, controlling for age, sex, and intelligence (as measured by the Wechsler Test of Adult Reading), years of education, and cigarette use. Results: The CB+ subjects exhibited thinner cortices in subfields cornu ammonis 1 [CA1; F(1,42)=9.96, p=0.0003], and CA2, 3, and the dentate gyrus [CA23DG; F(1,42)=23.17, p&lt;0.0001], and in the entire HC averaged over all subregions [F(1,42)=8.49, p=0.006]. Conclusions: Negative effects of chronic adolescent CB use on hippocampal structure are maintained well into late life. Because hippocampal cortical loss underlies and exacerbates age-related cognitive decline, these findings have profound implications for aging adults with a history of early life usage. Clinical Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov # NCT01874886

Salt Sensitivity of the Morphometry of Artemia Franciscana During Development: A Demonstration of 3d Critical Windows

This article uses a 3D conceptual farmework of 'critical windows' to examine whether the morphometry of Artemia franciscana is altered by salinity exposure during certain key periods of development