| Control
of Breathing |
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Many
reptiles, such as snakes and lizards, respond to inhaled
CO2 quite differently than physiologists normally
expect. CO2 is usually thought of as a stimulus
for breathing, increasing the number of breaths and
the size of breaths. Along with Bill
Milsom, and Brazilian colleagues (Augusto Abe, and
Denis Andrade), we examined the breathing pattern of
the South American rattlesnake. These animals respond
to increased CO2 in the air by slowing down
breathing and taking larger breaths. These breathing
patterns appear to be controlled by conflicting chemosensory
drive between IntraPulmonary Chemoreceptors and arterial
chemoreceptors. We are following up on these observations
in caiman and other reptiles, in an attempt to understand
the evolution of chemoreceptors.
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Publications
de Andrade, D.
V., Tattersall, G. J., Brito, S. P., Soncini, R. Branco,
L. G., Glass, M. L., Abe, A. S., and Milsom, W. K. 2004.
The ventilatory response to environmental hypercarbia
in the South American rattlesnake, Crotalus durissus.
Journal
of Comparative Physiology. 174: 281-291.
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