O2-chemoreflex drive of ventilation in awake birds at rest

Influence of feed deprivation on ventilation and gas exchange in broilers: relationship to pulmonary hypertension syndrome

Fast-growing broiler chickens not uncommonly exhibit elevated pulmonary vascular resistance that leads to pulmonary hypertension and right ventricular failure. We tested the hypothesis that a distended gastrointestinal tract in these full-fed birds results in an abnormally low tidal volume and minute ventilation that could lead to pulmonary hypoxia, pulmonary arterial vasoconstriction, right ventricular failure, and ascites. Tidal volume, respiratory frequency, heart rate, percentage saturation of hemoglobin with oxygen (HbO2), O2 consumption, and carbon dioxide elimination were measured on fast-growing broiler chickens when full-fed and after 3, 6, and 9 h of feed deprivation. Tidal volume of full-fed birds was not abnormally low despite HbO2 values varying from above 80% to nearly 60%. Importantly, HbO2 was found to be markedly increased in the hypoxemic birds at and beyond a 3-h period without feed, despite a reduction in minute ventilation. This response was not caused by a decrease in O2 consumption. Thus, limitation of gas intake at the mouth was not the cause of the hypoxemia. The data suggest that feed deprivation results in an increase in parabronchial ventilation, possibly from improvement in aerodynamic valving, which would reduce pulmonary hypoxic vasoconstriction and right ventricular failure.

Circadian rhythms in diving behavior and ventilatory response to asphyxia in canvasback ducks

Underwater feeding behavior was measured in 10 captive canvasback ducks (Aythya valisineria) for 12 days under a 12:12-h light-dark photoperiod. Feeding activity exhibited a daily rhythm, with 76% of dives occurring at night. In separate experiments on six of these ducks, a circadian rhythm was observed in the duration of voluntary dives. Dives at night (14.7 +/- 0.7 s) were significantly longer than those during the day (10.7 +/- 0.7 s). These day-night differences in diving behavior were accompanied by day-night differences in respiratory responses to progressive asphyxia. In the same six ducks, ventilation increased exponentially as a function of inspired CO2 concentration during rebreathing in a closed-circuit barometric plethysmograph. The exponential rate constant for inspired ventilation was significantly smaller at night (0.23 +/- 0.02) than during the day (0.26 +/- 0.01). We suggest that intermittent apneic exercise is facilitated by reduced respiratory chemosensitivity and that the respiratory and behavioral control systems are synchronized by the circadian timing system in diving ducks.

Hyperosmolality alters the ventilatory response to acute hypercapnia and hypoxia

Acute hyperosmolality in the Pekin duck results in an extracellular acidosis and hypercarbia without any stimulation of ventilation. The development of the extracellular acidosis is accompanied by the concurrent development of an intracellular alkalosis systemically which has been hypothesized to depress ventilation (Kasserra et al., J. Appl. Physiol., 1993). In order to investigate this apparent suppression of ventilation, the ventilatory response to various respiratory challenges (CO2, O2, K+) was studied both before (normosmotic) and after (hyperosmotic) hypertonic sucrose infusion. Increased plasma osmolality caused a significant drop in arterial pH of 0.06 +/- 0.01 units and a 4 Torr increase in PaCO2, yet did not stimulate any significant increase in ventilation despite a significant increase in oxygen consumption. Acute hyperosmolality increased the PaCO2 associated with resting ventilation, and decreased the magnitude of the ventilatory response to a given increase in PaCO2, compared with the response to the same ventilatory challenge in normosmotic animals. Acute hyperosmolality increased the ventilatory response to hypoxia and K+ compared with normosmotic animals. The opposite effect of hyperosmolality on the ventilatory responses to hypercapnia compared with hypoxia suggests that the mechanisms of chemoreception for hypercapnia and hypoxia are different. The depressed ventilatory response curve to increased PaCO2 and decreased arterial pH during hyperosmolality, both alone and during the hypercapnic challenge, suggests that the peripheral chemoreceptor response to pH and CO2 is suppressed. It is hypothesized that the suppression results from the intracellular alkalosis occurring during acute hyperosmolality.

Chemoreceptor control of heart rate and behaviour during diving in the tufted duck (Aythya fuligula)

1. The role of chemoreceptors in the control of heart rate and behaviour during diving activity in the tufted duck was investigated in two ways. In a closed-loop experiment, ducks were exposed to ambient gas mixtures of varied composition during diving activity in an indoor tank. Characteristics of diving behaviour, heart rate and deep body temperature were monitored under hypoxic, hyperoxic and hypercapnic conditions and compared with those in air. Secondly, in an open-loop experiment the role of the carotid body (CB) chemoreceptors in the control of the responses to altered inspired gas composition and in the cardiac responses to extended and enclosed dives (Stephenson, Butler & Woakes, 1986) was investigated by chronic bilateral denervation of these receptors. 2. Heart rate during submersion was unaffected by inspired gas composition in control (data from intact and sham-operated ducks combined) and CB-denervated ducks, though diving behaviour was significantly modified in both groups of animals in response to altered inspired gas composition. Hypoxia and hypercapnia resulted in an increase in the proportion of total diving time spent breathing at the surface. The main effect of hypoxia (9-10% O2) was to reduce dive duration in control ducks and this effect was almost completely abolished after CB denervation. Hypercapnia (5-6% CO2) reduced dive duration less markedly than hypoxia but it greatly increased the duration of the inter-dive interval, effects which were not significantly influenced by CB denervation. Hyperoxia (40-45% O2) had very little effect on either behaviour or heart rate during diving, although deep body temperature was significantly elevated in this gas mixture during diving activity. There was also a less marked, but nevertheless significant, apparent hyperthermia during diving activity in air on an indoor tank but not on an outdoor pond. Conversely, there was a significant apparent hypothermia during diving activity under hypoxic conditions. 3. The CB chemoreceptors were shown to play a role in cardiac control during diving under certain circumstances. The duration of pre-dive tachycardia was significantly increased in hypoxia and this increase was abolished after CB denervation. The rate of development of bradycardia during extended and enclosed dives was slowed following CB denervation, though the initiation of the responses in extended and enclosed dives and the eventual attainment of sub-resting heart rates in enclosed dives were not prevented, indicating that other, as yet unidentified, sensory inputs are involved in cardiac control under these conditions.

Deposition and phagocytosis of inhaled particles in the gas exchange region of the duck, Anas platyrhynchos

Little is known about the fate of inhaled aerosol particles in birds; even the anatomical location of phagocytic cells within the lungs has yet to be clearly demonstrated. We exposed 2 anesthetized, spontaneously breathing ducks to a non-toxic iron oxide aerosol (aerodynamic mass mean diameter = 0.18 micron; 460 mg/m3) for 1.75 h and 2 awake, resting ducks to less concentrated aerosol (38 mg/m3) for 6 h on two consecutive days. All 4 ducks were sacrificed 24 h after the end of the last exposure. Their lungs, as well as the lungs from a control duck not exposed to the aerosol, were fixed in situ by insufflation of osmium tetroxide vapor or by intravascular perfusion. Then samples of the gas exchange region were examined with a transmission electron microscope. We found iron oxide particles: trapped within the trilaminar substance that is unique to avian lungs and coats the atria and infundibula; within epithelial cells of the atria and initial portions of the infundibula; and within interstitial macrophages. Only occasionally, small amounts of particles were found in the air capillaries. We conclude that both epithelial cells and interstitial macrophages can phagocytize particles in avian lungs, and that there is some convective transport of aerosol to the atria and the initial portions of the infundibula.

Effect of bilateral vagotomy on arterial acid-base stability during panting in the pigeon

Bilateral, cervical vagotomy denervates, among other receptors, the known peripheral chemoreceptors in birds. To test the importance of afferent vagal input to cardiorespiratory control during thermal panting, we measured responses to an increase in body temperature (Tb) induced by ambient heating in 6 bilaterally, cervically vagotomized pigeons. These responses were compared with those we previously reported in intact pigeons (control animals). At thermoneutral conditions, respiratory frequency (fR) was lower after vagotomy compared to controls, and PaCO2 was higher. During increases in Tb in both control and vagotomized pigeons, fR, PaO2, pHa, heart rate and oxygen consumption increased, and PaCO2 decreased. However, fR rose less, PaCO2 decreased more, and pHa increased more in the vagotomized pigeons than in controls. All three were more variable than in controls. Heart rate and blood pressure were higher than controls; blood pressure was more variable. We conclude that bilateral, cervical vagotomy compromises the ability of pigeons to maintain stable respiratory and cardiovascular responses to hyperthermia.

Cardiorespiratory responses to shivering in vagotomized pigeons during normoxia and hypoxia

We measured respiratory, cardiovascular and blood gas responses to shivering during normoxia and hypoxia in five bilaterally, cervically vagotomized pigeons and compared these data with those previously reported in pigeons with intact vagi (Gleeson et al. 1986). Such neural section in birds denervates, among other receptors, the carotid bodies and intrapulmonary chemoreceptors. Normoxic breathing frequency (fR) and ventilation (VE) were decreased after vagotomy. Intact pigeons showed increases in oxygen consumption (VO2), tidal volume (VT), fR and VE during shivering. Vagotomized pigeons showed similar though slightly smaller increases in fR, VO2 and VE during shivering, but VT did not change. Normoxic heart rate was greater after vagotomy and was increased during shivering as in intact pigeons. Mean arterial blood pressure (MBPa) and stroke volume were not affected by vagotomy or shivering. At the onset of shivering both intact and vagotomized pigeons exhibited immediate increases in ventilation and heart rate. Exposure of vagotomized pigeons to hypoxic gas (fractional inspired oxygen concentration, FIO2 = 0.12) during cooling completely abolished shivering electromyogram (EMG) activity. In contrast, shivering in intact pigeons was not completely inhibited until the FIO2 fell below 0.10. We conclude that bilateral, cervical vagotomy in the pigeon causes hypoventilation and tachycardia during normoxia, but that these denervated birds are still able to rapidly effect cardiorespiratory adjustments to shivering. It is suggested that these responses are mediated mainly via afferent feedback from the shivering muscles. Hypoxia inhibits shivering in both intact and vagotomized birds and the mechanism is probably related to the reduced O2 delivery to the central structures that integrate thermoregulatory demand and coordinate appropriate responses.

Single breath CO2 measurements of deadspace in ducks

We measured deadspace (VD) in ducks using CO2 expirograms (plots of expired PCO2 vs expired volume) obtained during artificial ventilation at different tidal volumes (VT) and respiratory system volumes (VRS). Conventional analysis of the expirograms for Bohr and Fowler VD indicated both were larger than anatomic VD. Most expirograms at VT less than or equal to 100 ml had terminal slopes greater than predicted for lung gas and violated the usual assumptions of the Fowler calculation. Bohr VD was not affected by VRS but increased with VT. This can be explained by expired PCO2 not reaching lung values at low VT and an expiratory mesobronchial ventilatory shunt. We propose a measure of mesobronchial shunt corresponding to a volume of gas exhaled in one breath from caudal air sacs through the mesobronchus (VM). VM/VT changes with pump vs constant flow ventilation indicating sensitivity of VM to flow pattern. We estimate mesobronchial shunting is greatest at the beginning of expiration and approaches zero only near the end of a 200 ml expiration with constant flow ventilation.

Chemoreflex drive of ventilation during exercise in ducks

To determine if arterial chemoreceptors contribute to the ventilatory response during exercise, we measured minute ventilation (VI) in spontaneously breathing Pekin ducks (Anas platyrhynchos) during rest and running exercise when the inspired gas was switched from either 21% or 12% O2 to 100% O2 for 45 s (O2-test). In normoxia at rest (PaO2 = 99 Torr), inhaling 100% O2 reduced VI by 30%, while during resting hypoxic conditions (PaO2 = 56 Torr), 100% O2 inhalation reduced VI by 66%. During exercise, abruptly inhaling 100% O2 decreased VI by only 14% and 33% in normoxic and hypoxic conditions, respectively. Thus, only a small fraction of the ventilatory response during exercise under normoxic conditions is due to an arterial chemoreceptor input. However, during exercise in hypoxic conditions, arterial chemoreceptors provide a substantial portion of the total drive to ventilation.

Steady-state discharge and bursting of arterial chemoreceptors in the duck

The steady-state discharge of fourteen arterial chemoreceptor preparations were recorded from the left cervical vagi of unidirectionally ventilated, pentobarbitone anaesthetized ducks. All were excited by both hypoxia and hypercapnia and these stimuli interacted multiplicatively, as they do in mammals. We located the receptive fields of three preparations by observing their responses to i.v. injections of 2,4-dinitrophenol before, during and after occlusion of various arteries. The responses of two preparations were consistent with their location in the ipsilateral carotid body, but the responses of one, containing two active fibres, suggested that its discharge originated in aortic bodies. The discharge of eleven preparations was not random, but came in short high frequency bursts. As stimulus intensity was increased by either hypoxia or hypercapnia the average number of impulses per burst decreased. We have shown that the arterial chemoreceptors of the duck are sensitive to both hypoxia and hypercapnia. Because the steady-state stimulus-response characteristics are essentially the same as those of mammals we suppose that both mammalian and avian chemoreceptors are excited by the same basic mechanism. We also show that ducks have active extra-carotid arterial chemoreceptors.

The ventilatory responses of conscious dogs to isocapnic oxygen tests. a method of exploring the central component of respiratory drive and its dependence on O2 and CO2

Conscious unrestrained dogs trained to breathe through a respiratory mask or, after chronic tracheostomy, through a cuffed endotracheal tube were studied in an altitude chamber operated in such a way that end-tidal PO2 was maintained at 100, 75 or 60 Torr. Each hypoxic experiment was completed within 1 h of the onset of hypoxia. At all levels of oxygenation, resting pulmonary ventilation (V), obtained from the tidal volume (VT) and ventilatory period (T), and alveolar gas tensions (PAO2, PACO2) were measured cycle-by-cycle before and during isocapnic O2-tests (IOT) at various steady levels of alveolar PCO2 ranging from 30 to 48 Torr. For this, PCO2 in the inspired gas before and during IOT was adjusted so that PACO2 remained unchanged in the course of the first few breaths which followed the switch to hyperoxia. In analysing the transient changes of V in the course IOT, it was considered that an apnoea occurred when there was no measurable deflection on the integrated pneumotachogram past a duration twice the control T from the beginning of the last recorded ventilatory cycle. (1) Control V vs. PACO2 relationships showed classic positive interaction between hypercapnia and hypoxia; (2) during IOT at PAO2 of 100, 75 or 60 Torr, an apnoea occurred, V invariably falling to zero, provided that PACO2 was below 38-35 Torr according to the level of oxygenation; (3) above that threshold PACO2 value, the residual minimum ventilation (Vres) observed during IOT was linearly related to PACO2; (4) Vres vs. PACO2 relationships showed negative interaction between hypercapnia and hypoxia. It is concluded that (a) through isocapnic O2-tests, both the peripheral and central components of the ventilatory drive can be quantitatively estimated; (b) in conscious dogs, the pulmonary ventilation appears to be entirely driven by afferent activity from the arterial chemoreceptors, even in eucapnic normoxia; (c) the lower minimum ventilation seen in the course of O2-tests from a hypoxic rather than a normoxic background is still observed at PACO2 above normal, thus cannot be due only to hypocapnia related to preceding hypoxic hyperventilation must be caused by a central respiratory inhibition directly or indirectly related to depressant effect of even moderate hypoxia.