Temperature and the respiratory properties of whole blood in two reptiles, Pogona barbata and Emydura signata

We investigated the capacity of two reptiles, an agamid lizard Pogona barbata and a chelid turtle Emydura signata, to compensate for the effects of temperature by making changes in their whole blood respiratory properties. This was accomplished by measuring the P-50 (at 10, 20 and 30 degrees C), hematocrit (Hct), haemoglobin concentration ([Hb]) and mean cell haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) in field acclimatised and laboratory acclimated individuals. The acute effect of temperature on P50 in P barbata, expressed as heat of oxygenation (Delta H), ranged from -16.8 +/- 1.84 to -28.5 +/- 2.73 kJ/mole. P-50 of field acclimatised P barbata increased significantly from early spring to summer at the test temperatures of 20 degrees C (43.1 +/- 1.2 to 48.8 +/- 2.1 mmHg) and 30 degrees C (54.7 +/- 1.2 to 65.2 +/- 2.3 mmHg), but showed no acclimation under laboratory conditions. For E. signata, Delta H ranged from -31.1 +/- 6.32 to -48.2 +/- 3.59 kJ/mole. Field acclimatisation and laboratory acclimation of P-50 did not occur. However, in E. signata, there was a significant increase in [Hb] and MCHC from early spring to summer in turtles collected from the wild (1.0 +/- 0.1 to 1.7 +/- 0.2 mmol/L and 4.0 +/- 0.3 to 6.7 +/- 0.7 mmol/L, respectively). (C) 2005 Published by Elsevier Inc.

Thermoregulatory consequences of salt loading in the lizard Pogona vitticeps

Previous research has demonstrated that dehydration increases the threshold temperature for panting and decreases the thermal preference of lizards. Conversely, it is unknown whether thermoregulatory responses such as shuttling and gaping are similarly influenced. Shuttling, as an active behavioural response, is considered one of the most effective thermoregulatory behaviours, whereas gaping has been proposed to be involved in preventing brain over-heating in lizards. In this study we examined the effect of salt loading, a proxy for increased plasma osmolality, on shuttling and gaping in Pogona vitticeps. Then, we determined the upper and lower escape ambient temperatures (UETa and LETa), the percentage of time spent gaping, the metabolic rate ((V) over dot(O2)), the evaporative water loss (EWL) during gaping and non-gaping intervals and the evaporative effectiveness (EWL/(V) over dot(O2)) of gaping. All experiments were performed under isotonic (154 mmol l(-1)) and hypertonic saline injections (625, 1250 or 2500 mmol l(-1)). Only the highest concentration of hypertonic saline altered the UETa and LETa, but this effect appeared to be the result of diminishing the animal's propensity to move, instead of any direct reduction in thermoregulatory set-points. Nevertheless, the percentage of time spent gaping was proportionally reduced according to the saline concentration; (V) over dot(O2) was also decreased after salt loading. Thermographic images revealed lower head than body surface temperatures during gaping; however this difference was inhibited after salt loading. Our data suggest that EWL/(V) over dot(O2) is raised during gaping, possibly contributing to an increase in heat transfer away from the lizard, and playing a role in head or brain cooling.

Physiological thermoregulation in a crustacean? Heart rate hysteresis in the freshwater crayfish Cherax destructor

Differential heart rates during heating and cooling (heart rate hysteresis) are an important thermoregulatory mechanism in ectothermic reptiles. We speculate that heart rate hysteresis has evolved alongside vascularisation, and to determine whether this phenomenon occurs in a lineage with vascularised circulatory systems that is phylogenetically distant from reptiles, we measured the response of heart rate to convective heat transfer in the Australian freshwater crayfish, Cherax destructor. Heart rate during convective heating (from 20 to 30 degreesC) was significantly faster than during cooling for any given body temperature. Heart rate declined rapidly immediately following the removal of the heat source, despite only negligible losses in body temperature. This heart rate 'hysteresis' is similar to the pattern reported in many reptiles and, by varying peripheral blood flow, it is presumed to confer thermoregulatory benefits particularly given the thermal sensitivity of many physiological rate functions in crustaceans. (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier Inc.

Diving behaviour of a reptile (Crocodylus johnstoni) in the wild: Interactions with heart rate and body temperature

The differences in physical properties of air and water pose unique behavioural and physiological demands on semiaquatic animals. The aim of this study was to describe the diving behaviour of the freshwater crocodile Crocodylus johnstoni in the wild and to assess the relationships between diving, body temperature, and heart rate. Time-depth recorders, temperature-sensitive radio transmitters, and heart rate transmitters were deployed on each of six C. johnstoni (4.0-26.5 kg), and data were obtained from five animals. Crocodiles showed the greatest diving activity in the morning (0600-1200 hours) and were least active at night, remaining at the water surface. Surprisingly, activity pattern was asynchronous with thermoregulation, and activity was correlated to light rather than to body temperature. Nonetheless, crocodiles thermoregulated and showed a typical heart rate hysteresis pattern (heart rate during heating greater than heart rate during cooling) in response to heating and cooling. Additionally, dive length decreased with increasing body temperature. Maximum diving length was 119.6 min, but the greatest proportion of diving time was spent on relatively short (

Physiological mechanisms of thermoregulation in reptiles: a review

The thermal dependence of biochemical reaction rates means that many animals regulate their body temperature so that fluctuations in body temperature are small compared to environmental temperature fluctuations. Thermoregulation is a complex process that involves sensing of the environment, and subsequent processing of the environmental information. We suggest that the physiological mechanisms that facilitate thermoregulation transcend phylogenetic boundaries. Reptiles are primarily used as model organisms for ecological and evolutionary research and, unlike in mammals, the physiological basis of many aspects in thermoregulation remains obscure. Here, we review recent research on regulation of body temperature, thermoreception, body temperature set-points, and cardiovascular control of heating and cooling in reptiles. The aim of this review is to place physiological thermoregulation of reptiles in a wider phylogenetic context. Future research on reptilian thermoregulation should focus on the pathways that connect peripheral sensing to central processing which will ultimately lead to the thermoregulatory response.

Prostaglandins are important in thermoregulation of a reptile (Pogona vitticeps)

The effectiveness of behavioural thermoregulation in reptiles is amplified by cardiovascular responses, particularly by differential rates of heart beat in response to heating and cooling (heart-rate hysteresis). Heart-rate hysteresis is ecologically important in most lineages of ectothermic reptile' and we demonstrate that heart-rate hysteresis in the lizard Pogona vitticeps is mediated by prostaglandins. In a control treatment (administration of saline), heart rates during heating were significantly faster than during cooling at any given body temperature. When cyclooxygenase 1 and 2 enzymes were inhibited, heart rates during heating were not significantly different from those during cooling. Administration of agonists showed that thromboxane B-2 did not have a significant effect on heart rate, but prostacyclin and prostaglandin F-2alpha caused a significant increase (3.5 and 13.6 beats min(-1), respectively) in heart rate compared with control treatments. We speculate that heart-rate hysteresis evolved as a thermoregulatory mechanism that may ultimately be controlled by neurally induced stimulation of nitric oxide production, or maybe via photolytically induced production of vitamin D.

Integration of autonomic and local mechanisms in regulating cardiovascular responses to heating and cooling in a reptile (Crocodylus porosus)

Reptiles change heart rate and blood flow patterns in response to heating and cooling, thereby decreasing the behavioural cost of thermoregulation. We tested the hypothesis that locally produced vasoactive substances, nitric oxide and prostaglandins, mediate the cardiovascular response of reptiles to heat. Heart rate and blood pressure were measured in eight crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) during heating and cooling and while sequentially inhibiting nitric-oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase enzymes. Heart rate and blood pressure were significantly higher during heating than during cooling in all treatments. Power spectral density of heart rate and blood pressure increased significantly during heating and cooling compared to the preceding period of thermal equilibrium. Spectral density of heart rate in the high frequency band (0.19-0.70 Hz) was significantly greater during cooling in the saline treatment compared to when nitric-oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase enzymes were inhibited. Cross spectral analysis showed that changes in blood pressure preceded heart rate changes at low frequencies (

A tropical oviparous lizard, Calotes versicolor, exhibiting a potentially novel FMFM pattern of temperature-dependent sex determination

Among squamate reptiles, lizards exhibit an impressive array of sex-determining modes viz. genotypic sex determination, temperature-dependent sex determination, co-occurrence of both these and those that reproduce parthenogenetically. The oviparous lizard, Calotes versicolor, lacks heteromorphic sex chromosomes and there are no reports on homomorphic chromosomes. Earlier studies on this species presented little evidence to the sex-determining mechanism. Here we provide evidences for the potential role played by incubation temperature that has a significant effect (P<0.01) on gonadal sex and sex ratio. The eggs were incubated at 14 different incubation temperatures. Interestingly, 100% males were produced at low (25.5 +/- 0.5 degrees C) as well as high (34 +/- 0.5 degrees C) incubation temperatures and 100% females were produced at low (23.5 +/- 0.5 degrees C) and high (31.5 +/- 0.5 degrees C) temperatures, clearly indicating the occurrence of TSD in this species. Sex ratios of individual clutches did not vary at any of the critical male-producing or female-producing temperatures within as well as across the seasons. However, clutch sex ratios were female- or male-biased at intermediate temperatures. Thermosensitive period occurred during the embryonic stages 3033. Three pivotal temperatures operate producing 1:1 sex ratio. Histology of gonad and accessory reproductive structures provide additional evidence for TSD. The sex-determining pattern, observed for the first time in this species, that neither compares to Pattern I [Ia (MF) and Ib (FM)] nor to Pattern II (FMF), is being referred to as FMFM pattern of TSD. This novel FMFM pattern of sex ratio exhibited by C. versicolor may have an adaptive significance in maintaining sex ratio. J. Exp. Zool. 317:3246, 2012. (c) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Lizard Wears Shades. A Spectacled Sphenomorphus (Squamata: Scincidae), from the Sacred Forests of Mawphlang, Meghalaya, North-east India

A new species of lygosomatine scincid lizard is described from the sacred forests of Mawphlang, in Meghalaya, northeastern India. Sphenomorphus apalpebratus sp. nov. possesses a spectacle or brille, an unusual feature within the Scincidae, and a first for the paraphyletic genus Sphenomorphus. The new species is compared with other members of the genus to which it is here assigned, as well as to members of the lygosomatine genera Lipinia and Scincella from mainland India, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and south-east Asia, to which it also bears resemblance. The new taxon is diagnosable in exhibiting the following combination of characters: small body size (SVL to 42.0 mm); moveable eyelids absent; auricular opening scaleless, situated in a shallow depression; dorsal scales show a line of demarcation along posterior edge of ventral pes; midbody scale rows 27-28; longitudinal scale rows between parietals and base of tail 62-64; lamellae under toe IV 8-9; supraoculars five; supralabials 5-6; infralabials 4-5; subcaudals 92; and dorsum golden brown, except at dorsal margin of lateral line, which is lighter, with four faintly spotted lines, two along each side of vertebral row of scales, that extend to tail base. The new species differs from its congeners in the lack of moveable eyelids, a character shared with several distantly related scincid genera.

Differential expression of estrogen receptor alpha in the embryonic adrenal-kidney-gonadal complex of the oviparous lizard, Calotes versicolor (Daud.)

Estrogen signalling is critical for ovarian differentiation in reptiles with temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD). To elucidate the involvement of estrogen in this process, adrenal-kidney-gonadal (AKG) expression of estrogen receptor (ER alpha) was studied at female-producing temperature (FPT) in the developing embryos of the lizard, Calotes versicolor which exhibits a distinct pattern of TSD. The eggs of this lizard were incubated at 31.5 +/- 0.5 degrees C (100% FPT). The torso of embryos containing adrenal-kidney-gonadal complex (AKG) was collected during different stages of development and subjected to Western blotting and immunohistochemistry analysis. The ER alpha, antibody recognized two protein bands with apparent molecular weight similar to 55 and similar to 45 kDa in the total protein extracts of embryonic AKG complex of C. versicolor. The observed results suggest the occurrence of isoforms of ER alpha. The differential expression of two different protein isoforms may reveal their distinct role in cell proliferation during gonadal differentiation. This is the first report to reveal two isoforms of the ER alpha in a reptile during development. Immunohistochemical studies reveal a weak, but specific, cytoplasmic ER alpha immunostaining exclusively in the AKG during late thermo-sensitive period suggesting the responsiveness of AKG to estrogens before gonadal differentiation at FPT. Further, cytoplasmic as well as nuclear expression of ER alpha in the medulla and in oogonia of the cortex (faint activity) at gonadal differentiation stage suggests that the onset of gonadal estrogen activity coincides with sexual differentiation of gonad. Intensity and pattern of the immunoreactions of ER alpha in the medullary region at FPT suggest endogenous production of estrogen which may act in a paracrine fashion to induce neighboring cells into ovarian differentiation pathway. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Packaging and storage studies of dried lizard fish

Packaging and storage studies of salted and dried lizard fish (Saurida sp.) have been conducted using different synthetic films like low density polyethylene (LDPE) of different gauges, high density polyethylene (HDPE) of 200 gauge, polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) coated 400 MXXT cellophane, 100 gauge polypropylene (PP) and paper laminate of 100 gauge polythene. The films found most effective in the preliminary studies were subsequently used for packaging and storage of dried fish at atmospheric and lower temperature and humidity conditions for confirming their suitability under these conditions. Polyethylene films of higher gauges showed better results under both sets of conditions. PVDC coated cellophane film also performed satisfactorily under the latter conditions which under the former condition got easily attacked by insects. Lower temperature and humidity conditions in general enhanced the storage life of the dried product.

Isolation and cloning of exendin precursor cDNAs from single samples of venom from the Mexican beaded lizard (Heloderma horridum) and the Gila Monster (Heloderma suspectum)

Reptile venoms are complex cocktails of bioactive molecules, including peptides. While the drug discovery potential of most species remains unrealized, many are endangered and afforded protection under international treaties. In this study, we describe how potential clinically important bioactive peptides and their corresponding mRNAs can be structurally characterized from single, small samples of reptile venom. The potential type-2 diabetes therapeutics, exendin-3 and exendin-4, from the Mexican beaded lizard (Heloderma horridum) and the Gila monster (Heloderma suspectum), respectively, have been characterized at both protein and nucleic acid levels to illustrate the efficacy of the technique and its contribution to biodiversity conservation.

Helokinestatin: a new bradykinin B2 receptor antagonist decapeptide from lizard venom.

Synthetic bradykinin antagonist peptides/peptoids have been powerful tools for delineating the roles of kinins in both normal physiology and in pathological states. Here, we report the identification of a novel, naturally occurring bradykinin B2 receptor antagonist peptide, helokinestatin, isolated and structurally characterized from the venoms of helodermatid lizards—the Gila monster (Heloderma suspectum) and the Mexican beaded lizard (Heloderma horridum). The primary structure of the peptide was established by a combination of microsequencing and mass spectroscopy as Gly-Pro-Pro-Tyr-Gln-Pro-Leu-Val-Pro-Arg (Mr 1122.62). A synthetic replicate of helokinestatin was found to inhibit bradykinin-induced vasorelaxation of phenylephrine pre-constricted rat tail artery smooth muscle, mediated by the B2 receptor sub-type, in a dose-dependent manner. Natural selection, that generates functional optimization of predatory reptile venom peptides, can potentially provide new insights for drug lead design or for normal physiological or pathophysiological processes.